That said, there are more than acceptable universities around and with really good traits like Universidade do Minho and the Porto's university.

I'm portuguese but from the south, formed in the engineering university with most tradition in Portugal, Tecnico (IST), do you know it?

But it also sounds too artificial too me, maybe they are there for the landscapes, for the Porto wine and the 'francesinhas' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesinha).

Portugal offers a high level of education and location of universities in relation to the PlanIT Valley site (5 major universities within 90 km) with the largest in Portugal – University of Porto – less than 15 km away. In addition, there is a significant emphasis placed on knowledge development to support transition to a knowledge economy.

They are probably counting galician Universidade de Vigo as one of those major universities. Not portuguese, but closer than Lisbon, and there's actually quite some circulation of students and workforce both ways across the Minho river:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte_Region,_Portugal

North Portugal and Galicia form a Euroregion, based on the common historical, cultural, linguistic and economic similarities. The Euroregion has its origins in the Galicia-North Portugal Work Community, established in 1991. This Euroregion is also backed by the so-called Eixo Atlântico ("Atlantic Axis"), a lobby of Galician and North Portuguese cities and municipalities.