The University of Algarve will award merit scholarships worth one year's tuition fees to the best students from Algarve schools who enroll in the first year of a course at the institution, with the sponsorship of several companies in the region.
The initiative was presented today at the UAlg Campus of Gambelas, in Faro, in a session that was attended by representatives of the 22 companies that have already joined the program.
Of the companies that are already known to award a stock exchange, the vast majority are from the Algarve. “What was asked of each company was to take responsibility for a grant. But there are several who are willing to support more than one student," he told the Sul Informação the dean of Ualg João Guerreiro.
This support can be combined with Social Action grants and are intended to entice the best high school graduates in the region to continue their studies in the Algarve.
In all, there are already 30 companies that have joined or have shown interest in supporting a student who joins Ualg this year and «we hope to reach 40 even before the start of the school year. We hope to reach 60 or 70 scholarships this year», revealed João Guerreiro, at the presentation of the scholarship program.
“The idea is to give an incentive to the best students in the region to stay in the region. Every year, a few hundred choose to go abroad, either because they want to follow courses that do not exist at UAlg or for other personal and family reasons. Our goal is that the fraction that can stay in the Algarve opts for the University of Algarve», he added.
On the part of the companies, in addition to social responsibility, the emphasis is on the future return they can reap, by helping the university to establish good students in the region. «It has already been transmitted to us by many of the companies that would like to accompany these students throughout the course», something that is on the table.
In this case, the scholarship will not have a social nature, since "there are specific scholarships for this purpose that students can apply for", so the financial condition of the candidate will not be evaluated.
João Guerreiro also admits that the measure could be extended to students who finish high school outside the region, in years to come, stressing that this year "the process was carried out in a short period of time".
«Students here will be privileged, not least because the Algarve is our main recruitment area. But, in the future, we admit to supporting good students who come from other regions, if the average justifies it and there are still scholarships to be awarded», he said.
Companies already associated with the initiative, in the areas of tourism, banking and health, at national level, and technological services, real estate, cars, rent-a-car and shopping centers, at regional level, are: Algardata, ANA – airport of Faro, Aviludo, Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, BPI, Forum Algarve, Garrafeira Soares, Grupo Enolagest – Garvetur, Grupo Pestana, Grupo Rolear, HPP Saúde, Inesting, Litografis, Lusort – Algarve, Metalofarense, MSCAR, Pine Cliffs, Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo Algarve, Visualforma, Vila Galé and Zoomarine.
Internships are also part of the protocol.
In addition to merit scholarships, the 22 companies that signed a collaboration protocol with Ualg this Wednesday also agreed to extend their internship program to students trained at Ualg. A practice that is «common» and that leads almost all the businessmen present to testify that they have many cadres trained in the Algarve.
In many cases, the heads or representatives of the companies are former students of the institution.
Note: Photos from the press conference are by the University of Algarve
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