The MIT Sloan School of Management, two universities in Portugal and a group of Portuguese private corporations have entered into an agreement involving the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education under which MIT Sloan will help the schools strengthen their capacity in business education and management science at an international level. The initiative will also provide the opportunity for MIT Sloan faculty to continue to broaden their exposure to new global business developments and challenges.
Under the five-year agreement, which is part of the wide-ranging MIT Portugal Program, MIT Sloan faculty will offer guest lectures to Global MBA Program students at the School of Economics and Business at the Portuguese Catholic University and the School of Economics and Management at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. MIT Sloan will also offer a summer immersion program for the Portuguese students, and, under the agreement, professors from those schools will travel to Cambridge as International Faculty Fellows to be exposed to teaching practices which are designed to assist with their goal of enhancing their teaching effectiveness.
"This relationship fits into MIT Sloan's long history of international collaboration," which goes back to MIT Sloan's establishment of the Indian Institute of Management at Calcutta in the 1960s, said MIT Sloan Dean David C. Schmittlein. "We look forward to helping our colleagues in Portugal develop programs that will help them, their students and their economy."
The MIT Portugal Program was unveiled in 2006 as part of a major initiative by the Portuguese government to strengthen the country's knowledge base at an international level through a strategic investment in people, knowledge and ideas. The program initially involved faculty from MIT's School of Engineering and Engineering Systems Division working with professors and researchers from seven Portuguese universities.
MIT Sloan's role in the program provides opportunities that both Institutions hope will offer lasting benefits, said Professor Manuel V. Heitor, Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education in the Portuguese government. "MIT is already known and respected throughout this region and the world," he said. "And MIT Sloan has proven itself to be a global business school in a global business community. Our faculty will be greatly strengthened by what they learn at MIT Sloan, and MIT Sloan faculty and students will have the opportunity to deepen their ties with a worldwide academic community."
 MIT Sloan faculty will help their counterparts in Portugal develop curriculum and content, said MIT Sloan Professor of Management Paul Osterman. "MIT Sloan has extensive experience with such international efforts," he said. "But it's a two-way process. For our part, we gain new knowledge for our faculty and students that will help them better understand global economic and business practices."
In related news, the MIT Portugal Program last month launched a newly designed web site (www.mitportugal.org) that will enable users inside and outside the program to learn about its latest initiatives, education and research, events and successes. Features include a new online application form for the Advanced Studies and PhD programs offered, a resource area where users can find related reports, papers and documents, and a prospective student area.
The site, which accentuates a new brand identity for the program, also includes information on the education and research focus areas, research projects, schools and faculty involved in the program, and tips for visiting MIT.
The site highlights four areas of the MIT Portugal Program: bioengineering, sustainable energy systems, engineering design and advanced manufacturing, and transportation systems and provides curriculum details about each. Information on the education and research programs in these areas and in engineering systems is also available.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 5, 2008 (download PDF).
