On Tuesday, higher education students sent an open letter to the prime minister-designate asking for a hearing and calling for the separation of the ministries of higher education and science and education to be maintained.
In a letter signed by 12 student bodies, nine academic associations and three federations, students ask the prime minister-designate to maintain the existing government structure.
In a conversation with Lusa, the vice-president of the Lisbon Academic Federation (FAL), Mariana Barbosa, emphasized the importance of not making all departments dependent solely on the Ministry of Education, arguing that this change could jeopardize basic science and higher education, as well as the goals , determined for 2030.
“Previous experience shows that the general Ministry of Education, due to the nature of the position and functions, does not have enough capacity to devote itself to issues of higher education and science,” the students said in a letter sent on Tuesday to Luis Montenegro.
Students understand that it is crucial not to turn the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education into a state secretariat dependent on the Ministry of Education: such a “hypothetical subordination of higher education and science” does not correspond to the political commitments made regarding digital transition, innovation and skills.
In addition, some 2030 goals and targets may be at stake, such as increasing overall spending on innovation and development to 3% of gross domestic product, ensuring 60% of young people aged 20 attend higher education, or achieving half of young people aged 30 to 34 have higher qualifications.
“We urge Your Excellency that the decree-law approving the organization and mode of functioning of the XXIV Constitutional Government retain science, technology and higher education as a separate ministry, instead of promoting a single trustee integrating education, higher education. and science,” the open letter says.
Nine academic associations, the academic federations of Lisbon and Porto and the National Federation of Associations of Polytechnic Higher Education Students (FNAEESP) are asking the Prime Minister-designate to hold a hearing in which they intend to “portray the reality of higher education students.” .
The 12 student bodies remind that government policy is aimed at “expanding the social base of enrollment in higher education institutions, modernizing the functioning of educational institutions and thus promoting the creation of qualified personnel necessary for the development of the country and therefore the order.” mind, to the evolution of a scientific system that is decisive in the production of new knowledge.”
The emphasis on qualifications and the ability to attract more and more students also requires ministries to remain separate: “A reorganization that would split higher education and science into two separate government secretariats under the ministry with competencies and areas such as education would be detrimental to the vision for the field as separate and strategic.”
In addition to the three federations, the letter was signed by the academic associations of the universities of Beira Interior, Madeira, Aveiro, Évora, Trás os Montes and Alto Douro, Algarve, Minho, Azores and Coimbra.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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