A study of a structured faculty exchange program established between Carnegie Mellon University and Portuguese universities found the program enabled the Portuguese faculty to acquire new pedagogies, collaborative opportunities, and access to international research-related resources. Another finding was that a longer time spent at the host university proved beneficial for assimilating new ideas and approaches. The faculty participants gave positive ratings to their experiences in the exchange program. (55 ref)-Shephard, Kerry, et al. Valuing and Evaluating Community-Engaged Scholarship.

This article will examine Portuguese and European science and higher education policies and their impact on international collaborations. It will do so by looking at two key indicators: international academic mobility and the coauthored international scientific publications. The data show Portugal as an attractive country for foreign students and the increasing participation of Portuguese undergraduates in exchange programmes. The increase in the number of new PhDs in the last decade has been accompanied by an international academic experience. The analysis of international publications (Thomson Scientific) over a 25-year period show that Portugal is one of the most collaborative countries in Europe and that the highest rate of collaboration is now occurring with Spain.

International partnerships between universities are expanding and diversifying worldwide. Policymakers have understood that an active strategy of partnering national universities with world-class universities can bring socio-economic returns, and promote change. This article analyzes the background and logic behind the design and early development of an ongoing international partnership program established between a medium-sized European country and three prominent US research universities in 2006. Our findings show that political will, combined with an academic background and experience, have enabled the policymakers to learn from other international partnerships, and shape the involvement with the US universities. The role of "champion" policymakers was critical to the establishment of the partnerships before and during the initial period. Throughout this process the role of previous science policies and networks were found to have leveraged national research groups to collaborate and benefit from the IPPs, and supported long-term research collaboration ties with US universities. Portuguese faculty at US universities mediated the interaction between US and Portuguese academics and policymakers, and promoted the partnerships within their universities. Finally, the policymaker's focus on institutional competition was able to draw on the competitiveness of academics and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, encouraging individuals and institutions to increase their involvement.

In the mid-1980s, as a result of pressure from the national scientific community and the influence of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 1984 science and technology policy review, science was introduced into the Portuguese political agenda. A Framework Law and a series of institutional reforms were the most visible signs of change. Admission to the EC in 1986, however, provided an excuse for reducing the public R&D budget. While science policy remains, in the 1990s, a priority in the political discourse, there is a lack of correspondence between this discourse and policy practice. A survey of members of the Portuguese Parliament undertaken in 1995 was designed to shed some light on their perceptions and opinions concerning the value of science and the role of the Parliament in science policy, and, therefore, on the reasons for the gap between the discourse and practical behaviour of policy-makers in this field.