Between 12 and 15 May 2026, the director of the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (CIP P.PORTO), Mário Cruz, took part in the 1st Portuguese Language Week at the University of Los Andes (ULA) in Mérida, Venezuela, as an international guest of the initiative.
Organised by the Chair of Portuguese Language and the School of Modern Languages at the University of Los Andes, the event formed part of the celebrations for World Portuguese Language Day in Venezuela and was supported by the Portuguese Embassy in Caracas, the Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, through CEPE Venezuela, and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP).
Throughout the week, Mário Cruz led a series of lectures and workshops aimed at students, teachers and researchers in the fields of education, languages and the humanities, focusing on contemporary challenges in higher education, critical and intercultural language education, and the pedagogical transformation associated with generative artificial intelligence.
Among the sessions organised, the following lectures stood out: “From the Communicative to the Experiential: Towards a Critical Hyperpedagogy of Discourse”, “Unity, Diversity and Pluricentric Competence: Towards a Critical and Intercultural Language Education” and “Portuguese for Spanish Speakers: Linguistic Components, Predictable Difficulties and Strategies for Overcoming Them”, as well as workshops dedicated to gamification, experiential design and the critical use of generative artificial intelligence in language teaching.
On 15 May, the event extended to the “Kléber Ramírez” Territorial Polytechnic University of Mérida (UPTM) in Ejido, where the lecturer delivered the lecture “Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: challenges, opportunities and pedagogical transformation”. The session addressed topics such as critical hyperpedagogy, algorithmic literacy, epistemic justice, pan-Lusophone diversity and cultural mediation in the context of the rapid technological transformation of higher education.
During his stay at UPTM, Mário Cruz was also presented with the Achique and the Sacred Necklace of the Quinaroes Indigenous People, in a symbolic tribute led by Elder Alexi Valero Lopez and Professor Douglas Rivera Prieto, in recognition of his contribution to the intercultural and academic dialogue promoted within the framework of the initiative.
The programme for the 1st Portuguese Language Week also included cultural and educational activities involving the local school community and concluded with the “Concerto da Lusofonia”, held in the FACES Auditorium at ULA, bringing together various artistic and cultural expressions in celebration of the Portuguese language and international cooperation.
For CIP P.PORTO, this participation reinforces the Polytechnic of Porto’s commitment to internationalisation, pedagogical innovation and the building of academic and scientific collaboration networks in multicultural and multilingual contexts.