Society

Starting on 5th April, the Municipality of Porto launches the Porto. card, directed to all tax residents in the city and also students that rent a home or bedroom in Porto. This card provides free access to all the facilities within the Museu da Cidade, a 50% discount in performances by Porto Municipal Theatre, access to municipal pools and other benefits, such as free of charge travel in the Funicular railway of Guindais.

Porto City Hall celebrates its Historic Centre from 25th to 31st March, with an agenda that includes initiatives developed in collaboration with different social agents. The highlight is the presentation of the Management and Sustainability Plan for Porto Historic Centre.

Student accommodation in Porto will be enhanced, with two university campus inaugurating in Asprela: the Miranda Oporto, which will start running in the beginning of the school year, and the Liv Porto – The Street, which will be concluded in 2022. The investment in the university campus is by Valeo Management Europe, of the American group Valeo.

As of 15th March, Serralves Park is open to the public, between 10 am and 7 pm. The Park had closed in January, owing to the latest general confinement issued by the Government. These stressful times that ask us to balance work - either remote or in-person - and family, while trying to stay connected to relatives and friends, and whilst respecting physical distancing and confinement measures are not a walk in the park. Or might they be? Yes, Serralves Park opened to the public, on 15th March.

Porto City Hall launched a programme to raise awareness on the issue of mental health among its collaborators, which is especially relevant in the ongoing pandemic context. Last week, it was time for the Municipal Police to undergo the workshop, at Almeida Garrett Municipal Library. “The current framework [of Covid-19] accentuated and exposed even further the importance of taking care of people’s physical and psychological health, with common and concerted responses”.

The once service building in the complex of the Faculty of Pharmacy is now to be transformed into a student residence by the University of Porto. The public tender was launched on 11th March and the budget is circa 1.45 million euros.

This March, the CAD VIH/SIDA Porto (Centro de Aconselhamento e Deteção Precoce do VIH/SIDA do Porto), which is the Counselling Centre for the earlier HIV/AIDS diagnosis, carries out HIV/AIDS screening actions, within its mobile unit and in the stationary unit. Check the timetable here.

There is a host service in place, in Porto, for those children with no support background in the household, as their parents are essential workers or cannot work from home. Keeping the quality of learning and teaching, even during the school remote system in place, owing to the pandemic, is a major priority of the Municipality of Porto. Currently, over 400 first graders benefit form a daily meal service; also, the educational programmes have been adjusted and adapted to the current needs.

The University of Porto celebrates World Women’s Day with free online workouts. Zoom in and feel the good vibes.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject latest edition spotlights the University of Porto among the top 400 Best Universities in the world in 25 out of the 51 study areas assessed. The highlight is the enhancement of UP in the World Top 100 in Architecture, Sports, Civil Engineering, and a debut area is Management Information ranking at the 49th position. This year’s edition also marks the return of Psychology and Sociology to the elite ranking positions, according to the UP news release.