NOVA University Lisbon once again honoured the best first-year undergraduates at NOVA in the 2023/24 academic year, as well as the principals of their former secondary schools.
“My congratulations to all the award winners. May this award be a source of pride for the dedication, perseverance, and quality that you have demonstrated”, said the Rector of NOVA, João Sáágua, at the beginning of the NYTA ceremony. He also emphasised that ‘the challenges facing our society are great and complex, and we need our best minds to face them’.
On Tuesday, the Rectorate auditorium at NOVA University Lisbon was filled to capacity to honour the 42 students who performed the best in their first year of study at NOVA. As well as recognising their commitment and dedication, this award honours the secondary schools from which the students come.
‘Students are said to be, and rightly so, the reason for a university’s existence, and they certainly represent the greatest and most relevant impact that can be had in the service of society,’ reinforced the Rector. He added that, at NOVA, educating students is increasingly linked to the other two missions: research and innovation. Whether through alternative education, the permanent transformation of the job market, or the great challenges facing today’s society — such as climate change, health issues, war, inequality, and the crisis of democracy — public, private, and social institutions must be equipped with competent, adaptable people with new knowledge in a variety of areas. All of this implies an enormous capacity for openness to society. In this respect, NOVA aims to be a national leader in collaboration.”
Before the diplomas were handed out, there was still time to hear from Ivo Bernardo, a visiting assistant professor at NOVA IMS, passionate about Data Science and Analytics, and partner at DareData Engineering — a startup specialized in implementing machine learning systems in companies of different sizes, considered the fastest-growing AI company in Portugal. “After this presentation, it seems like I was a brilliant student, which is not true. Now, if the result of my experience, as an average/good student, was this, imagine what you, as the best, can do”, he said, reminding us that the most valuable asset is on the students’ side: “Never forget that what you have the most, right now, is time.”
Included in the University’s Strategic Plan for 2020-2030, the Talent@NOVA program consists of several subprograms dedicated to all members of the NOVA community — professors, researchers, staff and students. Known as NYTA, the initiative that brought together part of the NOVA community again is just one of these measures.
