Escola de Comércio do Porto – ECP (Oporto School of Commerce – legal name Terciforma S.A.) is a VET school with a diversified educational offer, including professionalizing courses for youth, adults, and enterprises in the areas of commerce and services. Currently, its core activity, the one that includes this accreditation, is secondary vocational education, with 253 learners, 33 teachers, and 18 non-teaching staff. The students are distributed among the professional courses of level IV, according to the EQF, Commerce, Marketing, Touristic Operations, and Digital Communication Technicians. It also has an education and training for young people of level II of Restaurant Technician/ Bar.

Our mission is to create a bridge between education, society, and the labour market, favouring the employability of our students, matching their skills to the current needs of the employers and contributing to greater cooperation in the sectors of commerce, tourism and services.

With 32 years of existence, ECP has progressively expanded its training offering and over the years has contributed to the development of Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education in Portugal with modular certified training, trainers’ certification, tailored training courses for companies, and specialized degrees for unemployed adults. For this purpose, it has developed its work in articulation with several partners, including the Municipality of Porto, the Chamber of Commerce of Porto and the Association of Trade Professionals of Porto, as well as other schools and VET providers, universities, and about 200 companies in around 20 countries.

This also motivated the establishment of internationalization as one of our strategic priorities, given the opportunities it brings for contacting with good practices and innovative methodologies but also to motivate our students and allow them to develop new personal and professional skills. As an innovative school, ECP encourages active methodologies and values group work. Furthermore, it encourages its students to participate in national and local competitions and contests, having won several awards in initiatives related to social, creative, and business entrepreneurship. It aims to inform and involve its learners on Human Rights and civic participation, developing several internal actions as training, seminars, and student-initiated projects connected to these topics ("Projeto Cidadão", "Parlamento dos Jovens"). Through these and other activities, it raises awareness of specific issues concerning youth, namely violence in relationships, bullying and cyberbullying, sustainability - social and environmental (trainings on Social and Solidarity Economy / "Green Plan" of ECP), volunteering and internship opportunities, employability and higher education.

The institution is a member of the Ensinus Group, one of the largest educational groups in Portugal, formed by 14 institutions dedicated to all levels of education, from kindergarten to higher studies, located in Portugal, Moçambique, Guiné Bissau, and recently Cabo Verde.

One of our priorities is Internationalization and we aim to be “a school from, to, and with Europe”. Through Erasmus+ mobilities and eTwinning projects, we have initiated, in 2021, new types of projects, including KA2 and reception of more mobilities with an expanded network of international partners, and our presence in important events such as the European Vocational Skills Week (of which our Administrator is an ambassador) and the EfVET Forum. ECP has also initiated an internal process to bring international dynamics to its regular activity, with more eTwinning projects, and various partnerships for activities (Centre Europe Direct Porto - sessions on the EU; Erasmus Student Network for the "Erasmus in Schools", with student Erasmus Schools; BETA Europe; the University of Porto, among others). For the work it has been developing, it currently holds the Ambassador School of the European Parliament title and the eTwinning school label.