NOVA’s strategic plan for 2012-2016 embraces the creation of a Doctoral School as a fundamental strategic option, aiming to promote quality, interdisciplinary education and the internationalization of the university’s doctoral programmes.

Without interfering with the structured PhD programmes of each Academic Unit (AU), NOVA Doctoral School aims at offering to 3rd cycle students and supervisors a range of complementary and transferable activities that will support their personal and professional development.

Although some of these programmes are already in place in some AU of NOVA, they are not offered to all PhD students of our university. Thus, the NOVA Doctoral School presents itself as an opportunity to join in common transversal activities a diverse population with different background experiences.

NOVA Doctoral School goals are:

· to provide additional training to PhD students and supervisors, enhancing their personal and professional development;

· to organize common academic and scientific activities with the purpose of avoiding the compartmentalization of scientific areas, creating an open space for discussion and creativity;

· to share best practices, either within NOVA’s doctoral programmes or through partnerships with other Higher Education Institutions;

· to forth rationalization and sharing of resources by creating synergies that will benefit all doctoral programmes of NOVA;

· to contribute to attract the best students to our PhD programmes (in Portugal and abroad, including students from the Portuguese speaking countries);

· to create mechanisms of collaboration with enterprises and the society in general.

NOVA Doctoral School has a simplified and flexible organizational model, benefiting from the organizational resources already in place at the Rectorate and at the AU of the University.