Between 11 and 13 May 2026, the National Council for Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education (CNIPES) organised an international mission to Lund University in Sweden, in which the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (CIP P.PORTO), represented by Erika Ribeiro and Diogo Costa, participated as part of the INOV-NORTE consortium.
CNIPES is an advisory body to the Portuguese Government, comprising representatives from the consortia of Centres of Excellence for Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education, funded by the Impulso Mais Digital initiative, under the Portuguese Republic’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). INOV-NORTE is part of this national ecosystem, bringing together higher education institutions committed to pedagogical development and transformation.
The mission aimed to deepen knowledge of leading institutional models in pedagogical development, with a particular focus on building organisational cultures geared towards teaching quality and sustainable pedagogical innovation.
Throughout the working sessions, practices and structures associated with institutional accountability for pedagogical development were analysed, including the existence of compulsory pedagogical training for higher education lecturers, as well as the structuring role of Teaching and Learning Centres as institutional hubs supporting the continuous improvement of teaching and learning.
The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss the multi-level nature of pedagogical change, understood as a complex cultural and organisational process involving political, institutional, pedagogical and communicational dimensions. In this context, the importance of educational leadership, academic collegiality and communities of practice was highlighted as central elements for institutional transformation.
Mechanisms for recognising and valuing teaching were also addressed, as well as the consolidation of higher education pedagogy as a field of research, including the development of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and the dissemination of evidence-based practices.
The experience at Lund University contributes to the national debate on pedagogical development policies in higher education, reinforcing the importance of consistent, networked institutional strategies geared towards the sustained improvement of teaching quality.
The mission was funded under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the European Union (NextGenerationEU).