The New Face of "Universitas"

The author of the present article is the rector of a very special university. Its faculties were comparable to the French Grandes Ecoles when, in 1930, the government decided to join them together to form a university, not an easy task, even for a very strong government. The schools did not want to lose their autonomy and were indeed afraid of losing it for nothing. Political pragmatism suggested a decentralized solution which was out of keeping with the spirit of the times and represented a major innovation in the frame of Portuguese public administration.