From left to right: Juan Caldés, European Advocacy Coordinator at the EJA; Professor Salvato Trigo, President of UFP; and Gabriel Senderowicz, President of the Jewish Community of Oporto.
Fernando Pessoa University (UFP), in Oporto, has become the first university in Portugal to officially adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The decision followed a meeting held on 26 November, at the initiative of the European Jewish Association (EJA), which brought together the President of UFP, Professor Salvato Trigo, the EJA’s European Advocacy Coordinator, Juan Caldés, and the President of the Jewish Community of Oporto, Gabriel Senderowicz. The formal signing took place later, on 2 December.
According to Senderowicz, the measure merely formalizes a stance the university had already demonstrated in practice. “This is simply a formality, as the University has shown over the years that it upholds the principles of the definition”, he said. Professor Salvato Trigo agreed, highlighting the institution’s ongoing commitment.
UFP is considered one of the European universities with the highest proportion of Jewish students, with an estimated 500 members of the community. In the Dentistry program, approximately 75% of students are Jewish — a figure that, according to participants in the meeting, underscores both the symbolic and practical significance of adopting the IHRA definition.
