Integrated Actions are joint programs of intensification of exchange of teachers and researchers intended to promote the scientific cooperation between Portugal and other countries. This interchange, launched by the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities in 1981, is based on joint implementation by teams of Portuguese universities and others of research projects and / or educational.
The purpose of Integrated Actions is to encourage the collaboration among teachers and / or researchers of Portuguese Universities with their partners of higher education institutions from Spain, Germany and France.

According to the rules of application, in order to be considered, all projects must be presented simultaneously in their respective countries, with the bodies responsible for the management of these programs.

The disclosure of this contest of Luso-German Integrated Actions is done through the Rectors of universities that comprise the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities, and is also advertised in (www.crup.pt).

After the deadline for acceptance of applications the projects are reviewed by an evaluation panel for each of the selected scientific areas in which they are inserted, with the purpose of providing a comparative analysis with the applications presented in the DAAD.

In addition to promoting the strengthening of inter-institutional cooperation, these projects of Integrated Actions have allowed a greater visibility of Portuguese Universities at the international level :

• by the large number of articles published in international journals;
• by the intense involvement of the teams involved in Conferences, Congresses and Seminars for the presentation of obtained results;
• by the number of applications that provide and that, in general, are presented to the Framework Programmes and other international cooperation programs;