Students call for the ministries of Higher Education and Education to remain separate

Higher education students sent, this Tuesday, an open letter to the new prime minister asking for a hearing and calling on him to keep the ministries of Higher Education and Science and Education separate.

In a letter signed by 12 student structures – nine academic associations and three federations – students appeal to the new prime minister to maintain the existing government structure.

Speaking to Lusa, the vice-president of the Lisbon Academic Federation (FAL), Mariana Barbosa, highlighted the importance of not making all departments dependent solely on the Ministry of Education, arguing that a change could jeopardize essential science and of higher education, as well as the goals defined for 2030.

“Previous experiences demonstrate that a common Ministry of Education, due to the nature of the position and functions, does not have sufficient availability to dedicate itself to Higher Education and Science themes”, say the students in the letter sent today to Luís Montenegro.

Students understand that it is crucial not to transform the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education into a State secretariat dependent on the Ministry of Education: This “hypothetical subalternization of Higher Education and Science” is not consistent with the political commitments made for the digital transition, innovation and qualifications.

Furthermore, some of the objectives and targets established by 2030 may be at stake, such as increasing total expenditure on Innovation & Development to 3% of Gross Domestic Product, having 60% of young people aged 20 attending Higher Education or achieving half of young people aged 30 to 34 have higher qualifications.

“We appeal to Your Excellency that the decree-law that comes to approve the organization and functioning regime of the XXIV Constitutional Government maintains Science, Technology and Higher Education as a distinct Ministry, instead of promoting a single tutelage that aggregates Education, the Higher Education and Science”, reads the open letter.

The nine academic associations, the academic federations of Lisbon and Porto and the National Federation of Polytechnic Higher Education Student Associations (FNAEESP) are asking the Prime Minister for a hearing, in which they intend to “portray the reality of Higher Education students”.

The 12 student structures recall that public policies aim to “expand the social base of recruitment for Higher Education, modernize the functioning of institutions and, in this way, contribute to the creation of qualified staff, essential to the country’s development and, therefore, order of reason, to the evolution of the scientific system, decisive in the production of new knowledge”.

The focus on qualifications and the ability to attract more and more students also requires that ministries remain separate: “A reorganization that divides Higher Education and Science into two distinct Secretariats of State, under a ministry with competences and areas as diverse areas such as Education, will harm the vision of this area as distinct and strategic”.

In addition to the three federations, the letter is 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.