Study Abroad

The Study in Portugal Network (SiPN) study abroad program is managed by the non-profit Luso-American Foundation for Development (FLAD), with the support of the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science, the US Embassy in Lisbon, the Fulbright Commission in Portugal, AICEP, and the Lisbon City Municipality, among others. It offers North American students the opportunity to spend a semester, year or a summer in the vibrant capital city of Lisbon, Portugal. Eventually, SiPN seeks to expand beyond Lisbon to include other quality Portuguese universities in other cities.

The program’s primary aim is to increase the number of students from North America who study abroad in Portugal. SiPN provides an academically rigorous but flexible study abroad program that is designed to meet the needs of undergraduates from a variety of majors. Its core curriculum is focused on Portugal’s place in Europe and Lisbon as a safe and attractive cosmopolitan hub from which to explore themes related to the larger Lusophone community of some 260 million people.

SiPN is designed to serve many different kinds of students. For those who are not yet ready to take all of their coursework in Portuguese, they can still cover their major or general education-type requirements through a wide array of offerings taught in English, while also taking whichever class level they require for a Portuguese language course. Or for those who are ready to direct-enroll in regular university classes taught in Portuguese, we can provide that too.

Consequently we provide two main types of classes: core curriculum (taught in English) and direct enroll classes in our partner universities (taught in either language).

The core curriculum is designed for students who do not yet feel ready to take their social science or humanities classes in Portuguese. They also provide the core identity for the program and its semesterly-offerings. The faculty of the core curriculum are published experts with Ph.Ds in their respective fields, hand-chosen by the academic council of SiPN to teach in our program. Many of them have previously taught or done graduate work in North America or other English-speaking countries. Our core classes also enroll Erasmus and local Portuguese students, for a truly international classroom experience, taught in English.

Direct enroll classes may be conducted in either Portuguese or English. For example, each semester SiPN provides all levels of Portuguese language courses (A1 – C2) for whichever level you require. More advanced Portuguese learners have even greater choices and can elect to take all of their coursework in Portuguese through direct-enroll classes at any of the 4 schools in the consortium in virtually any field, providing for a fully immersive experience. For those who are looking for other choices outside of our core, the SiPN universities provide hundreds of direct-enroll classes each semester in business, economics, and many other fields, all of which are taught in English and open to participants of SiPN. Nevertheless, for students who need at least some courses taught in English, SiPN strongly recommends that students take at least 2 courses from among our core offerings.

What makes SiPN unique is the fact that students can choose classes from any of the 4 member universities in our Lisbon network.