The Universities of Aveiro, Minho and Porto proudly share a long history of excellence in teaching and research in Computer Science. This history is made of reference teaching projects, some of which pioneering initiatives in Portugal, and a broad range research dynamics, with international recognition. This history also reflects the fundamental role that these Universities have played in creating and structuring an entrepreneurial community which has in Computer Science and, more generally, in the Information and Communication Technologies, the core of its activity.

The path taken so far, and the growing co-operation between these Universities, particularly at the scientific and graduate teaching levels, set up the context for the next step: the creation of a joint Doctoral Programme in Computer Science. This is justified by a strategic commitment to knowledge, facing highly complex scientific and technological challenges, and preparing the indispensable highly qualified human resources.

This ambitious Doctoral Programme common to the three Universities comes from the recognition that it is vital to promote high-level education in Computer Science that permits dealing with the challenges that arise in today's world, not only from the ubiquitous nature of information technology in our socio-economic framework, but also from globalisation in the information technology market. Namely, such challenges comprise:

• The growing relevance of information technology in numerous aspects of human experience (from economy to daily life, from the social sphere to the environment, etc.).
• The growing demand for certification of guarantees as to the correctness, security, and quality of service of computer-based (sub)systems, on which depend wide areas of the world socio-economic structures.
• The global, mobile, distributed, heterogeneous and service-oriented nature of the computer-based structures supporting nowadays' society.
• The constant evolution of the paradigms, methods and technologies underlying such structures.

These challenges demand for professionals with a solid background in the foundations and methodologies of computer science and technologies, capable of independent scientific research, and able to follow and contribute to the evolution of technology and the widening its application spectrum, both in the academic and industrial environments.