CATÓLICA-LISBON graduates highlight "challenging" undergraduate experience

Vera Santos and Ricardo Magro are two of the students who recently celebrated the completion of their degree at the graduation ceremony of the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. "Challenging" and "overcoming" are the words they choose to describe this path at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

Over the course of three years, they had classes exclusively in English, and the opportunity to spend a semester at an international university. Vera chose IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, and Ricardo chose Mannheim Business School in Germany. What they take away most fondly from the International Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration are the friendships, but also what they learned inside and outside the classroom.

"For me, it was one of the best decisions I made, honestly. For the friendships as well as for the knowledge and the foundations that I acquired for the future and for the continuation of my studies," Vera shares about her choice of course.

Ricardo, meanwhile, highlights the constant overcoming he had to do: learning how to be a university student, adapting to taking classes during the pandemic, and then studying in another country. "Católica is a very good university, but it's not only the quality that dictates our success. That depends on us. We have to be willing to be there and learn as much as possible," he explains by way of advice to current students.

For Vera, the biggest challenge, and one she didn't expect, was "taking remote classes during the pandemic." Although difficult initially, everything turned out well in the end thanks to the professors. "They are excellent professionals, all very reachable people who were always there for us. I didn't feel like I was just another student, they knew who I was and they cared about us," she explains.

Currently attending the Master in Marketing Management at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Vera believes that the ease she is having in an international environment is due to her degree at CATÓLICA-LISBON. She highlights the classes in English and "Learn in Action", a professional development program focused on soft skills.

In turn, Ricardo, working at Sonae Sierra, highlights the curricular plan of the last year of the degree, which can be completely personalized: "In the third year, I understood better what I want to do, I could choose the subjects that were closer to what I like the most, in my case Finance."

The classmates were reunited with the remaining graduates at the ceremony on October 22. "I feel that the graduation was almost like a funny and nostalgic last reunion, but also a good closing of the chapter," describes Ricardo, as he explains that many of his classmates are already studying outside the country, where they plan to continue their professional careers.

"For me, it was the culmination of these three years, everyone there together celebrating the same thing, and thinking about all the experiences and obstacles we overcame together in the university, where we did everything, the friendships, passed the difficult chairs... it was a memorable day," Vera concludes.