By Andrea Hargraves 
The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, will be present at the UMinho 50th anniversary celebration.
University of Minho will be held to celebrate Its 50th anniversary on February 17, at 10:30 a.m., in the medieval rectory hall, in central Braga, and is broadcast on Youtube.
The academic procession will leave the Arco da Porta Nuova and ascend among the residents to the city's main pedestrian street, reliving what happened half a century ago, when the then Minister of National Education, Vega Simão, arrived to attend the ceremony of taking over the installation committee and the first Dean of the Academy, Carlos Lloyd Braga.
In the rectory, Elvira Fortunato is expected to intervene, and on Uminho's side, the President of the General Council, Joana Márquez Vidal, the Rector of the University, Ruy Vieira de Castro, and the President of the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Committee, João Cardoso Rosas. And the President of the Academic Association, Margarida Isayas. The Minister of Internal Administration, José Luis Carneiro, and the Secretary of State for Higher Education, Pedro Nuno Teixeira, among other dignitaries, will also attend.
The session includes institutional videos, presentation of diplomas, merit awards and the title of Professor Emeritus of José Vieira, Manuel Rocha Armada, Manuela Martinez and Paulo Pereira. The musical moments are the responsibility of the Uminho Academic Choir and Brass Quartet from the Department of Music of the Uminho College of Letters, Arts and Humanities, under the direction of Maestro Cosme Campinho.
Concerts, exhibitions, forum and digital library
This Friday there are also memorial activities. At the Gualtar Campus, in Braga, the Uminho Digital Library will be presented (at 11:00, in the Public Library), the Forum “+Higher educationIn the presence of Foreign Minister Pedro Nuno Teixeira (at 3:00 p.m., in the Institute of Education) and the opening of the mural “Os Nosso Rostos – 50 Anos UMinho” (at 6:00 p.m., in Building 2).
At 22:00, the Vila Flor Cultural Center in Guimarães will host the concert of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, performed by the Uminho Orchestra and the choirs of the Uminho Music Department and Viana Vocal, under the direction of Vitor Matos and Vitor Liem. The show is repeated the next night, at Teatro Circo, in Braga. On Saturday, the exhibition “Universidad do Minho: 50 Years of Reinventing Education and Knowledge” will also open at Largo do Baco, in Braga. This exhibition will tour the main squares of Minho municipalities over the next few months.
The Uminho 50th anniversary program will run until February 17, 2025, with the inclusion of 15 additional activities, such as concerts, performances, book launches, international conferences and the Braga-Guimarães Half Marathon. Details can be viewed here.