The University of Porto dressed up to welcome the new students

The building of the Rectory of the University of Porto dressed up to welcome the new students for the academic year 2020/2021. As tradition, newcomers are gifted a welcoming Kit, which takes place in an especially arranged space, following all the health measures, from 12 to 23 October. The kit includes a t-shirt, a tote bag, a cape and a bracelet that ensures privileged access to museums and venues in the city of Porto, and also a week free of the UPFit programme. 

Kits are handed to new students during this week, on site, between 10am and 12.30pm and between 2pm and 6.30pm. Entrance to the venue by the square of Parada Leitão, in front of the café "Piolho".

Students must comply with some rules to receiving the kit, upon presentation of the online voucher and a personal ID card, namely wearing facemasks.

The welcoming week to the "caloiros" (new students) was held in an online format, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so the students are already familiar with the respective faculties.

It is worth mentioning that Architecture, sports, Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering are the study areas where the University of Porto ranks best, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

The 2020 edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject lists the University of Porto (UP) among the top 400 Best Universities in the world in 22 study areas. The highlight is the enhancement of UP in the World Top 100 in Architecture, Sports, Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering, consolidating UP's position at international level regarding Higher Education.

The areas of knowledge assessed by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and in which the University of Porto ranks best are Engineering and Technology (156), with an improvement in the ranking regarding the areas of Arts and Humanities - now ranks 273 (in 2019 it was 311), followed by Life Sciences and Medicine and Natural Sciences - now rank 316 (in 2019 they ranked 355), and Social Sciences and Management - now ranks 294 (in 2019 it was 312).

Regarding the specific areas, the UP is also listed among the best in the world in about half of the assessed areas - 22 out of 48. Therefore, Biological Sciences and Mathematics are now listed among the 201-250 best and the 251-300 best, respectively.

It is worth highlighting that there was an upgrade of Mechanical Engineering, Physics and Education regarding the same ranking last year and new entries in the top 2019, namely Finance, Management and Sociology.

Besides, the UP ranks World Best University - 101-150 - in Agriculture, Education and Mechanical Engineering; it ranks between 151 and 200 Best in Art and Design, Environmental Sciences, Electrotechnical Engineering, Pharmacy and Pharmacology; it ranks between 201 and 250 Best in Materials Science and Modern Languages, Medicine and Chemistry; it ranks among the 251 and 300 Best in Biology, Computer sciences, Economy, Finance and Sociology.

Moreover, the UP is listed among the 350 best in Management and Mathematics and it is included in the "Top 400" in Physics and Astronomy.