NOVA University Lisbon has gradually adopted a development model based on the openness to the national and international community, innovating in the face of models based on an Academy geared towards itself.
This strategy has materialized successfully at the University and, in particular, at Nova SBE, which, benefiting from the best practices, is today, in Portugal and internationally, a reference in its area.
However, its visible, verifiable, and comparable success was questioned in the media through news and opinion articles that sometimes denounced alleged limitations on academic freedom and sometimes questioned the relationship that Nova SBE maintains with the community, namely with the business community nationwide.
In this context, the Rector of NOVA University Lisbon, within the scope of his responsibilities and competencies, decided to consult all those involved, concluding that there is no limitation to the academic freedom at Nova SBE.
In order to deepen the path that has been pursued and further reinforcing the transparency of relations between the school and its partner companies and institutions, the Rector of NOVA, the Dean of Nova SBE, and the School's President of the Scientific Council have decided to create an Independent Commission.
The Commission is made up of personalities of great merit and recognized independence, mostly academics with management responsibilities in higher education, all external to the University. The Commission will have as its main mission, on the one hand, to analyze and safeguard academic freedom at the School and, on the other, to verify and guarantee the School's independence in its relationship with its institutional, public, and private partners.
This Commission will also contribute with recommendations on the best international practices for the articulation of the public and private sphere, within the scope of the Academy, which NOVA University Lisbon is compromised to follow scrupulously, making them transversal to the entire institution.
The Commission will present the work program in September and the final results at the end of this year, which will be made public by the Commission itself.
The Commission is made up of the following personalities (in alphabetical order):
At the invitation of the Rector, a member of the Board of Trustees of Universidade NOVA Lisboa, with observer status, will actively accompany the work of the Commission:
The Commission has the permanent collaboration of the following members of Nova SBE:
Nova SBE is proud of the path it has taken with the contribution of its students, faculty, non-academic staff, institutional, and business partners and is firmly committed to maintaining the level of international excellence that characterizes it and that contributes to the development of Portugal and to the projection of its Academy.
NOVA University Lisbon recognizes the scientific and academic excellence of Nova SBE, its research centers, and its teaching staff, which has been internationally evaluated several times, as well as the innovative character of many of its initiatives.
NOVA University Lisbon is proud of all its Schools providing a public service to the country and Portuguese families, with quality of international reference, in its mission areas: teaching, research, and collaboration with society.