University of Aveiro (reviews)

I’ve been a student at the University of Aveiro (UA) for the last 8 years and if I had to summarize my experience in one word it would be “growing”. UA was always a great university, and one of the best to study in Portugalin the decade, but now it is probably the best. Each year the number of students, available courses, professors, staff, and talent increases, and the University creates evermore scientific output and opportunities for its community. One of the major benefits that it has is that the university campus is condensed into a single major area, such that a big chunk of the city is exclusively inhabited by students, and the departments are more prone to synergise and collaborate with each other, fommenting interdisciplinary research. The biggest problem nowadays is that the increase in size led to a lack of suitable housing for students and we all have a very hard time finding parking spots.

In general it was a pretty good experience, the only bad thing was the fact that it was during the covid times, wich gave me a feeling of distance between teachers and students. I had some great professors, specially during my last semester, it was an amazing feeling.

I completed my BSc in Biology at the University of Aveiro from 2015 to 2018. Overall, I really appreciated the campus culture,having a unified space made it easy to meet diverse people, access different fields of expertise, and keep essential services and student support (like financial aid and housing) within close reach.

As for the degree itself, it provided a solid general introduction to biology, but it fell short in a few areas. I originally enrolled because of a planned 4th-year internship, but the program structure changed and it was removed before my cohort reached it. While most of the professors were great, the practical training was heavily weighted toward lab work when I would have preferred more hands-on field experience. Additionally, navigating administrative matters within the department (and now CESAM, following the staff restructuring) was often frustrating, as there felt like a lack of support for students and researchers.

I think the university is great overall. The atmosphere is amazing and it’s easy to meet people and feel part of the community. The courses have a good balance between theoretical and practical learning. The facilities are also very good, with well equipped labs, a large library and an online platform where teachers share materials for students to study.
There are also many events that help new students feel welcome and stay engaged throughout the year. Some professors are very passionate about teaching and are always willing to help, while others are more average. One downside is that administrative services can be quite slow, especially when dealing with timetable issues, which can be frustrating.