The ISEP’s vice-president, José Carlos Quadrado, is the first Portuguese distinguished by the Association for Engineering Education of Russia (AEER). The medal, titled “Peter I” (Peter the Great), has been delivered at the general assembly of AEER, on February 16th, at St. Petersburg.

This medal is usually dedicated to statesmen and public figures of Russia or foreigners from the academic and industrial communities or non-governmental organisations. It is a distinction with high global merit. Above all, this medal focuses on the highlighting of important contributions to the “Development of Engineering and Engineering Education”.

“On a personal level, I am very grateful for this award, which I see the recognition of more than two decades dedicated to the internationalisation of Portuguese Higher Education in the field of Engineering. In addition, it is also with a lot of satisfaction that I see the elevation of Portuguese engineering at the highest level”, says José Carlos Quadrado.

This distinction has been made on an individual basis. However, it has been happened during the current functions as ISEP’s vice-president. In this way, the international fame of our institution is also reinforced. In fact, during last years, ISEP has leaded several partnerships with Russian entities in terms of staff mobility, I&D projects and even industrial collaborations, such as the giant KAMAZ.

“As a result of this medal, there have already been some proposals for institutional partnerships with universities from Russia and United States of America, which will certainly improve the integration of ISEP at the top of the largest international networks of Engineering Education", explains the vice-president, José Carlos Quadrado.

Despite the importance of the Russian medal, the Professor received other international awards. In fact, he is the only European to have been awarded with the “LACCEI Academic Merit Model”, in Ecuador, at 2014. The recognition granted by the consortium of the Latin America and the Caribbean universities was due with the contribution of José Carlos Quadrado for the development of the Engineering Education in that continent.