PAPS - Portuguese American Post-Graduate Society

To be or not to be an immigrant in the US
 
What brought you to the USA?
I first came to the US during my Ph.D. studies in Portugal. I was doing research on a very recent area at the time, hybrid systems, and I felt the need to spend time abroad since no one was working on hybrid systems in Portugal. That initial visit, to the University of Pennsylvania, was followed by another one after finishing my Ph.D. Although my original intention was to return to Portugal, the lack of academic career opportunities made me change my mind and stay in the US ever since.

Name the three most valuable lessons you have learned in this country (at work or not).

1) Work hard, party hard. Of course the working part is done in the US while the party one is in Portugal!

2) Portuguese people are as good as anyone else in the world. All we need is motivation.

3) I am still searching for the third one!

Are you planning to go back to Portugal? Why/Why not? What conditions (other than salary) do you have here that you do not have in Portugal?
The question seems to suggest that salaries in the US are better than in Portugal. This is a debatable point. Although you have more money in your pocket at the end of the month, you should keep in mind that you pay for everything in the US. Even for basic needs such as access to health care, education, information and culture. If you deduct all these expenses from your pay check then it is no longer clear in which country are the salaries better. I think what makes working at a US university really different from working at a Portuguese one is the faculty. People here are really outstanding and devoted to the progress of science. Unfortunately, many faculty members in Portugal see their academic position as an acquired right rather than as a privilege they must earn every day.

What do you think Portugal is still better at?
Food, social life, landscape (enjoy it while you can), complaining about the boss/government while doing nothing to help, and having some of the least qualified and/or most corrupt people as mayors, presidents of soccer clubs, and the respective associations and governing boards!

What would you like to see changed in the Portuguese educational system?
The list is rather long. Things have to change even before kids go to school. Parents need to realize that it is not O.K. to have bad grades at math and physics. Nowadays it is socially acceptable to have bad grades in general and especially in math and physics. This needs to be changed. Excellence needs to be stimulated by providing incentives for the average student to become better. The same should be done for teachers. It is rather appalling to me that teachers are not evaluated, at all! And the Portuguese society seems to be comfortable with the status quo! At the university level things are even more outrageous: inbreeding is the norm, promotions are based on how long you’ve been on the job and not on your merit; chairs and deans have no real power to change things and they are not held accountable for their actions. I do not think that gradual change is possible. We all know stories of young faculty full of energy and dreams and just a couple of years after joining a Portuguese university they’ve given up and they’ve been absorbed into the system.

The daily life in the US