On December 12, the IPBN signed a protocol with the Universidade Europeia (UE), the host of this year’s IPBN Tourism Conference in September in Lisbon, in order to consolidate and strengthen our existing partnership. The UE and the IPBN will work together to achieve beneficial outcomes on both sides in the name of business and education.

The protocol was signed at the UE Campus da Quinta do Bom Nome in Lisbon Monday, December 12th in presence of Ana Margarida Passos, Vice Rector of Universidade Europeia, and Geoffrey Graham, Chair of the IPBN Board and Senior Partner at Edge International Lawyers.

In general, the protocol is a way for the two entities to come together for the purpose of advancing education and fostering connections between SMEs and students who are currently enrolled or have graduated from the institution.

This protocol is another sign that the IPBN is taking seriously its mission to build bridges between the Academic and Business World and expand our relationship with Top Universities in Portugal and Ireland in order to develop partnerships between the two countries in education.

In the Universidade Europeia’s objective to become more international, the IPBN will work with the University in bringing Irish students to study in Lisbon and Irish companies already in Portugal to train their staff, primarily in Tourism. To this effect, the University will be looking at creating tailor-made training programs for the IPBN’s network in order to encourage the continuing education of its workforce.

Both entities are looking forward to beginning work on several exciting initiatives:

  • In January, we will share with our members the University Tourism Bachelor Course and Executive Courses.
  • In February, the UE will invite the IPBN to present itself and the opportunities in both markets at the opening of a new course in Tourism Course.
  • In May, the UE will send selected students to take on internships in IPBN member tourism companies.
  • During the second semester of the 2023 academic year, IPBN members will be invited to come to the UE to participate in the university’s academic challenge.

This is the IPBN's second protocol signed with educational institutions after the signing of the University of Algarve (UAlg) protocol on June 16 of 2021 with Paulo Aguas, the Rector of the University. The IPBN has also started a close collaboration with Porto Business School with whom we will work on future events and seminars in the region. And we are also looking at expanding in 2023 our relationship with the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin following the UCD Project Consultancy week and visit in Lisbon in which 80 MBA students participated, some with three of our members on various projects.

For more information, please contact Arnold Delville, IPBN General Manager, arnold.delville@ireland-portugal.com