NAU platform wins ISCTE Public Policy Award 2022

The NAU Platform won the ISCTE Public Policy Award 2022 in the Central Public Administration category. NAU is a service provided by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through its FCCN Unit, to improve citizens' lives by offering free online courses open to the public in different areas of knowledge. The award recognizes the role that this platform, a pioneer at the national level, has played for three years in online education and training.

The 2022 edition of the award promoted by IPPS-ISCTE had as its motto "The State improving our lives" and aims to highlight the most relevant public policies adopted in Portugal. The NAU Platform was recognized by the jury, composed of experts in Public Policy, in criteria such as effectiveness of results, quality, innovation, and transferability. The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, November 29, at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, and was presented to António Bob Santos, Member of the Board of Directors of FCT.

Francisco Santos, Vice-President of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), states that “this award recognizes the quality of the service that NAU provides to the population and the distinctive impact it has on the lives of those who are committed to lifelong learning. It is a free service that currently reaches more than 190,000 active users and has the capacity to serve more than 100,000 students daily. The goal now is to expand the offering and continue to be an asset to partner entities and, above all, to citizens."
The NAU platform, launched in 2019, seeks to encourage retraining, lifelong learning, and personal development among citizens, while contributing significantly to the promotion of the Portuguese language as a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge. In an online context and through a set of shared digital services aimed at supporting the development of education and science in Portugal, NAU has more than 190,000 active users and more than 400,000 registrations in the approximately 320 courses already available.

Currently, open access courses are available in partnership with 44 nationally recognized entities. The initial funding for the NAU project, from the European Union's European Regional Development Fund and the COMPETE 2020 Community Operational Program, under the Portugal 2020 Framework, with project number 02/SAMA2020/2016, was reinforced with funding from the European Social Fund under the Competitiveness and Internationalization Program for the implementation of the FAN – Ferramentas Avançadas NAU (Advanced NAU Tools) project, with project number POCI-05-5762-FSE-000266.