Presentation

Director's Message

The Social Action Services of the University of Porto (SASUP) are the result of the consolidation of a remarkable path of social action policies, reflected in the continuous rethinking of strategies and in the framing and adaptation to the permanent and challenging demands of those for whom our action is paramount, the students.

The trajectory of the SASUP, which began in the University Centre of Porto more than half a century ago, shows that our intervention has been transformed, reflecting the different historical contexts that we have gone through, as a result of the different social policies, changes and challenges that have been presented to all the stakeholders of U.Porto.

Giving continuity to the challenges that have driven us to break the paradigm of inequalities in higher education, we highlight the strategic evolution of its fundamental role in the intervention with students in situations of socio-economic vulnerability, as well as in the concern with health, food, housing and well-being, creating conditions conducive to successful academic attendance.

SASUP marks the memory of an evolutionary and differentiating path, which will naturally endure in the testimonies of students, contributing to the construction of a fairer, more inclusive higher education, directed towards the well-being of the academic community.

The students we support will always be remembered for their academic achievements, but the success stories encourage us to reflect on our own role in the construction of higher education that is also opposed to the global development of students, to the promotion of their autonomy, to the strengthening of their self-esteem and to the search for solutions to overcome their difficulties and challenges.

Because each student continues to inspire our work, to motivate the search for more innovative responses and to expand our services to meet the most pressing needs, the SASUP intends its action to become increasingly civic, interdisciplinary, collaborative, intercultural, integrating innovative approaches, partnerships with other institutions, whether with other sectors of the state or with civil society organisations.

We are thus strongly committed to promoting a culture of care, proximity and inclusion, in a mission that requires everyone's commitment. We believe that investment in higher education will always be the best strategy to counteract generational immobility, promoting social cohesion and boosting the creation of new talent.

In a context that demands continuous, sustainable, balanced and socially responsible adjustment, reorganisation and modernisation, it becomes imperative to invest in quality, in the coherence of the internal attitude and in the reinforcement of external relations. It is within this objective that, with responsibility, transparency and rigour, we want to make available guiding information of easy and quick access to all the strands and areas of activity.

We want to open new paths, allowing each step to be a new option for the future.