Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave-Barcelos Campus

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The Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave (IPCA) is a Public Higher Education Institution established on December 19th, 1994, and located in Barcelos, a city in the north of Portugal. Aware of its purpose and responsibilities, IPCA’s mission is to contribute towards the development of society, stimulate cultural creation, research, and applied research, and promote reflective and humanistic thought. It also aims to provide areas of knowledge to attractive professional activities at the national and international levels, promoting mobility, employability, and reciprocal relationships with the community.
IPCA offers a wide range of courses, such as Bachelor's degrees, Professional Masters's, Professional Higher Education Courses, and non-degree courses. Oriented towards lifelong learning, its training offer includes daytime, after-work, and distance, learning classes. Over 50% of IPCA’s students attend after-work courses, which highlights IPCA’s strategy to suit the needs of those already in the labor market.
IPCA aims to ensure more training for more students, reaching new audiences, and training in different areas, this way contributing to the increase of the population’s level of qualification. IPCA has a teaching and non-teaching qualified staff that is decisive to its success. The qualification of the teaching staff, oriented towards advanced scientific research and the development of pedagogical skills, is an ongoing concern ensuring thereby the required ratios in terms of the number of Ph.D. holders required in higher education institutions. Scientific activity is also developed through research centers in distinct training areas, namely the Research Centre on Accounting and Taxation, recognized by FCT.
To provide the appropriate social, physical, and environmental conditions to favor the teaching, learning, and well-being of its academic community, IPCA has done a huge investment in modern facilities that provide a range of support services to the proper functioning of the Institution. IPCA has a campus where the Management School, Technology School, and Design School are located, as well as other support services such as the Library, the Administrative and Financial Division, the Academic Services, the Information Systems Division, the Human Resources Division, the Procurement and Infrastructure Office, the Internal Control Office, the Legal Counsel Office, the Communication and Image Office, the International Relations Office, the Evaluation and Quality Office, the Entrepreneurship and Business Office, the Social Services and the canteen. The Praxis XXI building, where the academic community can find the Language Center, the Companies Spin-off, the Business Simulation Centre, and the Europe Direct Information Centre (CIED), is also located on the IPCA campus.

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