Graduated by IEP, Matilde and Rodrigo receive their diploma and recall the best moments of the degree

The diploma award ceremony is always a special occasion. For the students of the Institute for Political Studies (IEP), this remarkable moment happened last 25th October, with the recent graduates in Political Science and International Relations of Católica receiving their diplomas at the 22nd Alexis de Tocqueville Lecture.

Matilde Pinto, of 21 years, was one of the former students to take the stage and says that "it was a moment of reflection, gratitude and appreciating what were 3 years" of learning. "I knew that I wanted to contribute on a more social level, but I didn't know how", said the recent graduate, adding that it was at the IEP, where she did her course, her first option, that she discovered that this contribution would be in the field of education. Her colleague, Rodrigo Leitão, 21 years old, describes his academic path as a "pilgrimage towards truth". "It's as if Plato and Aristotle were arm in arm in conversation. Receiving the diploma means I was allowed to keep them company on this path," he explains.

The ceremony is "a symbolic act, but it also ends up giving a little more strength for the future", says Matilde. A future that will be different for each one, but that the alumni believe to be promising. As soon as he finished his degree, Rodrigo wasted no time. He immediately moved on to the Master's in Governance, Leadership and Democracy Studies, also at the IEP, and even has an idea for the subject of the dissertation he will write: personalism. As for goals, he dreams of teaching at the institute of the Universidade Católica. "I liked this so much that I would like to do the same thing for others", he shares.

Matilde also intends to pursue studies in the field of political philosophy, and later work in education policies. "I'm currently applying for the Netherlands, while I'm promoting the degree" in the high schools of the country. But that is only in the immediate future. When we ask her about what she would really like to do, she laughs and confesses, "I have a dream: to have a Think tank of my own."

About the degree at Católica, what the alumna admits she liked most was the "openness and availability on the part of the professors and the curriculum". She fondly recalls her favourite subject, "Pursuit of happiness." A subject where her hand "was always raised" and in which she discussed "philosophical theories from ancient Greece to the most contemporary theories." In addition, she highlights the role of the professor Orlando Samões, coordinator of the Bachelor degree, who distinguished himself by "taking care to deliver the classes in a dynamic way, to involve the students, and to ask for their opinion."

On the other hand, Rodrigo admires his professors so much that he is unable to choose a favourite. But his preferred subject comes to him straight away: "Tradition of the Great Books II." "I was fascinated," he says. He talks with pride about his Bachelor degree and what impressed him most, he says, were the books he studied, and then, "the IEP itself, the Infante D. Henrique Room," he adds. A room where Rodrigo remembers studying, reading and "discussing authors, ideas, something that is very difficult to do outside the University." As for the Institute, he says that "there's something very comfortable, very homely", which he can't define, and which he mentions, with a smile, "I think that if I did it would lose a part of its charm".

With distinct dreams, they received with equal pride what the Vice-Rector, Isabel Vasconcelos described at the Alexis de Tocqueville Lecture, the institute's most solemn ceremony, as "a passport to their professional life", the Bachelor's degree diploma. "In fact, your degree takes you where your dreams are," she added.

The event included a lecture by Mário Pinto, guest of honour and co-founder of the IEP, "The Principle of Subsidiarity of the State in the 25 years of the 1997 Constitutional Revision", and a moment of homage to Adriano Moreira. The diploma and award ceremony also included interventions by Mónica Dias, Vice-Director of the Institute, João Pereira Coutinho, Dean for Academic Programmes, Bernardo Gonçalves de Freitas, alumni, and Rafaela Ramos Guimarães, President of the Academic Association of the Institute.