Government admits unfreezing Higher Education fees

The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation warned, this Wednesday, that tuition fees in Higher Education could be unfrozen, starting in September. Students criticize this “countercycle measure” with best European practices.

Fernando Alexandre admitted this Wednesday the possibility of defrost the value of bribes in Higher Education from the next academic year, depending on the conclusions of the evaluation of the social action system.

“The first condition for unfreezing tuition fees is the completion of the social action evaluation study, which is being carried out by Universidade Nova (Lisbon) and which will allow us to design a new system”, said the minister, speaking to journalists at end of a round of meetings with unions on the review of the Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES).

Students object

Speaking to Lusa, the president of the Porto Academic Federation (FAP), Francisco Porto Fernandessaid he saw with “some surprise” the fact that Minister Fernando Alexandre had taken up the topic of a possible increase in the value of monthly fees in Higher Education from September onwards.

“The FAP has a constructive position on the issue and, like the minister, we agree that what has to be ensured is Social Action and that those who least have the same possibilities of using Higher Education as a social elevator, but we cannot accept an insistence, which can only be ideological, to walk in opposition to the best public policy practices in Europe”, stated Porto Fernandes.

Against the unfreezing of tuition fees, the representative of almost 80 thousand public and private education students suggested an alternative: End the policy of refunding tuition fees to those who remain working in Portugal, a measure launched by the previous Government and, at the time, “criticized by the PSD”.

“If we want to invest in social action, let’s keep the monthly fees as they are and end the refund of monthly fees, which is a terrible public policy”, he defended.

Measure not included in the OE

Asked about the unfreezing of tuition fees, a possibility raised by the minister on Monday in an interview with the program “Tudo é Economia”, on RTP3, Fernando Alexandre considered, however, that this does not represent the main cost associated with attending Higher Education.

“What we have to guarantee is that, taking into account the financial situation of students and their families (…), students are able to access Higher Education and have a successful academic record”, he said.

The objective is that the new social action regulations, which should be in force at the beginning of the next academic year, in September, reflect all the costs that students incur when attending Higher Education and which, the minister highlighted, “involve many dimensions, including tuition fees”.

The possible unfreezing of the value of monthly fees was reported by several media outlets within the scope of the State Budget for 2025 (OE2025), but the measure was not included in the Government’s proposal.

At the time, the Minister of Education avoided commenting on the topic, but, even before the OE2025 proposal was delivered to the Assembly of the Republic, he finally confirmed that monthly fees would continue to be frozen.

According to the government official, the evaluation study of the social action system, carried out by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, should be completed by the end of April, with the first part report, referring to the diagnosis, being delivered in December.