AAC Uniqueness
University of Coimbra's AAC is the biggest organization of its kind in Europe. AAC has a long history and unmatched reputation in student sports, cultural activities, and political activism. With a long history of struggle against unpopular state policies, forming notable politicians and intellectuals along the way, it also harbours a very dynamic associative life.
Other similar students' unions in the country, such as Associação Académica da Universidade de Aveiro (University of Aveiro), Associação Académica da Universidade da Beira Interior (University of Beira Interior), Associação Académica da Universidade do Minho (Minho University), or Associação Académica da Universidade do Algarve (University of the Algarve), are smaller students' unions by number of associates because its universities have a smaller number of students or because the universities' student's aren't automatically members of the union, with a membership fee being required.
In other places in Portugal, there are many independent faculty, institute and school organizations of students from many mother-institutions (universities or polytechnical institutes) that are not representative of the whole mother-institution, being this fragmentation the reason for their smaller size, importance, and strength. There are also federations of students' unions comprising public and private, university and polytechnic independent and not related institutions from a city, like FAP - Federação Académica do Porto (from Porto) which is the largest students organization in the country, that do not represent a single university or polytechnic, but many independent federated students' unions from institutions of the most diverse kind.
Read more about this topic: Coimbra Academic Association
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“Until now when we have started to talk about the uniqueness of America we have almost always ended by comparing ourselves to Europe. Toward her we have felt all the attraction and repulsions of Oedipus.”
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