The first edition of the master's in International Development and Public Policy ended at the beginning of October. The students who chose CESO to develop their policy analysis project saw their dissertation graded as excellent.

More than 50 students attended the first edition of the master's degree in International Development and Public Policies of the School of Economics of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Nova SBE). The course is project-based learning, combining teaching with direct contact with institutions and companies active in the field of public policies and international development, as is the case of CESO.

In the context of the protocol established between CESO and Nova SBE, a group of four students had the opportunity to develop a project applied to a concrete situation of public policy in São Tomé and Príncipe: how to increase exports of products with higher added value in selected agricultural production chains. The dissertation, defended at the beginning of October, was evaluated by the jury appointed by the school as excellent, having received a classification of 19 points.

Aimed at people from different areas of training and professionals from the public and private sectors and from non-governmental organisations, the master's main objective is to provide the analytical skills required to support decision-making in public policies and in diverse and challenging socio-economic contexts.

To this purpose, this master's programme includes a theoretical approach to the areas of economics, management, political science, and quantitative methods, with practical application to public policies and international development.

For Helena Valente, administrator of CESO, "collaborating with Nova SBE in this area is fundamental for training future generations and allowing them to have a more active role in society. Being this the focus of our activity as professionals for more than 40 years, we are very happy that, now, we can welcome some of the students within our company and give them the opportunity to complete their training, showing them the reality of working in international development and the notion of how they can make an impact. This is, without a doubt, a pioneer master's degree in Portugal", she concludes.

Renata Villa is one of the finalist students of the first edition of the Master, having developed the project of policy analysis with CESO. Following this experience, she began an internship with the company. In relation to the master's degree, she says that it met all her expectations: "it allowed me to have access to high-quality teaching and to acquire skills to be able to develop a career with greater purpose and impact on society, already starting to work in one of the leading companies in the sector.

October 13th, 2022