Prime Minister António Costa said this Wednesday that he will soon “go back to school”, in a speech in which he emphasized the need to constantly update knowledge in order not to miss the digital transition train.
“The dynamics of transformation and knowledge will cause us all to quickly become out of date with what we know, and therefore we will have to return to school more often throughout our lives. That’s what will happen to me, in fact, soon,” Costa said. in Barcelos, during the opening of the hostel for students of the Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Avenue.
The head of government stressed that the digital transition “will force us to do things differently than we did before”, and in certain cases machines will perform a set of actions that have until now been performed by people.
“We have to give a new opportunity, a new career, a new life horizon to those who stop doing what the machine is going to do for them,” he said.
According to António Costa, it is necessary to look “at the generations that will still be active” and give them new opportunities to return to the education system and gain new qualifications.
He therefore argued that “huge investments” needed to be made in adult education and continuing education.
In his speech, Costa also said continued investment in university residences is “absolutely important” for Portugal to achieve its goal of 60 percent of young people under 20 attending higher education.
Costa highlighted that the National Tertiary Student Accommodation Scheme (PNAES), funded by the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR), will increase the number of available beds by 78 percent by the end of 2026.
“This is one of the fundamental programs of the PDP,” he said, recalling that housing is “one of the biggest barriers” to entry into higher education.
On the other hand, Costa emphasized the diversification of the offer of universities and polytechnics, calling this a “huge added value” for the country and the qualifications of the population.
The IPCA residence, opened today, costs more than two million euros and has 62 beds.
Currently home to 7,300 students, the Polytechnic has until now been the only non-residential public higher education institution.
A second residence with 133 additional beds is planned to open in 2025.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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