Launched in 1981, by the Portuguese Universities Rectors’ Council (CRUP), these programmes are structured around the organization of joint research and teaching projects.

The main objective of these joint actions is to strengthen the cooperation between the teachers and researchers of the Portuguese universities, with their partners from the higher education institutions of Spain, United Kingdom, Germany and France.

According to the application rules, all projects must be submitted simultaneously at both countries.

The opening of the application period is announced through the rectories and in the website of the Portuguese Universities Rectors’ Council (www.crup.pt).

The Portuguese applications are evaluated by an expert panel of professors, from several scientific areas, appointed by the universities that form the council.

Every year, after the end of the application period, the Acções Integradas Committees choose the professors that will form the panel, according to the number of applications by scientific area.
Each project must be evaluated by a minimum of two experts.

The Acções Integradas have allowed a greater international promotion of the Portuguese Universities due to:

• the high number of articles published in international scientific magazines;

• the involvement of the participating teams in Conferences and Seminars with the presentation of the results obtained;

• the high number of applications to the framework programmes and other international programmes, that directly result from the participation in joint actions;

• several positive results in other fields, such as patent and trademark registration.