Rita, Vinha and Gonçalo stand behind an ESN Portugal flag, smiling.

Erasmus Student Network Portugal celebrates the election of two outstanding members to leadership positions at international level during the recent General Assembly held in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 10 and 12 May.

Rita Dias, a native of Lisbon, was re-elected to the position of President of ESN International. Rita has a degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Beira Interior (UBI) and a Masters in Public Policy from ISCTE-IUL. After her Erasmus experience in Leuven, Belgium, she joined the local section of ESN Lisbon in 2018, where she served as local president until 2021. He was also President of ESN Portugal for two terms and is currently President of ESN.

Together with Rita Dias, Rui Vinha, a native of Penafiel and resident in the same city, was elected ESN Treasurer at international level. Aged 25, Rui has a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP) and is currently studying for a Master's degree in Political Economy at ISCTE. His ESN career began in 2020 when he joined the local ESN Porto section, after a period of mobility in Bucharest, Romania, the previous year. He was Treasurer of ESN Porto for a year and, after two terms as Treasurer of ESN Portugal, a position he currently holds, Rui Vinha has now reached a significant milestone by being elected to the position of Treasurer at international level.

In addition, the ESN General Assembly also elected Gonçalo Tavares to the Board of the General Assembly. Gonçalo, 23, originally from Aveiro and currently completing his master's degree in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of Aveiro, is the current IT Manager at ESN Portugal. Gonçalo started his career in the network more than 3 years ago at ESN Aveiro and currently lives in Tallinn, the city where he spent his mobility period at Tallinn University of Technology.

These elections not only recognise the commitment and competence of the Portuguese members, but also reinforce Portugal's active role on the international student mobility scene.


The Erasmus Student Network Portugal is a non-profit international student federation, the national branch of the Erasmus Student Network, one of the largest interdisciplinary student associations in Europe, present in 45 countries.
Our mission is to represent international students and, consequently, to provide opportunities for cultural understanding and personal development under the principle of ‘Students Helping Students’.