 A remarkable level of achievements and a successful political lobbying, allowed PIC in 1979 to be promoted by the Portuguese Ministry of Education to a higher institutional level, university institute.Seven years later, in 1986, the University Institute of Beira Interior was granted full university status, becoming the current University of Beira Interior.Based on a research study ("Preferências dos estudantes", co-authored by Diana Amado Tavares, from "CIPS - Centro de Investigação de Políticas do Ensino Superior" (Centre For Research In Higher Education Policies), among others), the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias reported on 2 April 2007, that according to the study, pre-higher education students from families with a higher educational and cultural background have a 10 times higher probability of becoming higher education students than the others.