The University of Porto was founded in 1911 with the integration of several institutions of higher education in the city, some of which date back to the eighteenth century. It is presently the university with the second largest number of students and one of the most prestigious in the country. There are mathematicians in several faculties, although the majority are members of the Faculty of Sciences, working in the Department of Mathematics.
The research activities in Mathematics are mostly done within the Centro de Matemática da Universidade do Porto, an institution founded in 1942 which received the rank of Excellent (the best mark) in the last evaluation conducted by the funding institution, the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.