Students in a humanitarian emergency have priority placement

According to the diploma, published on Tuesday in Diário da República, the government has decided that students who find themselves in a humanitarian emergency will now have priority in accessing student housing.

So far, scholarship holders ousted from higher education institutions, public or private, have taken precedence over everyone else, but the government has decided that “students in a humanitarian emergency” should also have equal rights.

These two groups of students now have priority in placement, which is supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), according to a ruling signed by the Secretary of the Presidency, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Science, Technology and Higher Education.

Secondly, “there remain displaced students, national or foreign, including students under the ERASMUS + program, students within the networks of “European universities” and foreign students under other international mobility agreements with the Portuguese state, as well as international students who contribute to the effective internationalization of national higher education”.

And finally, “researchers, teachers and non-teachers from higher education institutions appear, namely within the framework of national or international mobility, including within the framework of the ERASMUS + program, networks of “European universities” and within the framework of other mobility agreements, international agreements with Portuguese State”.

The current Diploma has been amended with a paragraph of regulation 29-A/2022, which draws attention to the situation in the country compared to what is happening in the rest of Europe, warning of a “significant shortage of demand-based supply” and “price and comfort”. conditions compatible with the economic and financial possibilities of many students.”

In addition to these facts, the government also pointed to the “increase in the presence of domestic and foreign private operators practicing demanding rental conditions, located in the middle and high price range.”

Recognizing a “market failure” that results in a situation that “seriously undermines de facto equality of opportunity in access to higher education”, the government deemed intervention and resource mobilization justified.

Students have long warned of a lack of decent housing at affordable prices, a situation that has worsened in recent years with rising rents.

In António Costa’s government, with Manuel Heitor at the head of the higher education portfolio, he launched the National Higher Education Placement Plan, which set the goal of doubling the supply, i.e. there will be more than 15,000 intervention beds by 2026.