EGIDIO SANTOS / U.PORTO
Rector of the University of Porto, António de Sousa Pereira
The revelation was made by the director of the Medical School, who accuses the rectory of inconsistency for accepting candidates with a grade below 14 in 2019. The rector explains that the circumstances were very different from 2025.
The rector of the University of Porto (UP), António Sousa Pereira, exceptionally approved, in 2019, the entry of 37 candidates in the Special Contest of Access to the Medical Course for Holders of Degree, even having these obtained less than 14 values In the knowledge test, the minimum grade required by the regulation.
The decision, now explained by the Rectory, arises in the context of the current controversy around the 2025 contest, which opposed the UP, the Faculty of Medicine (FMUP) and the Ministry of Education. Last week, the rector revealed to have suffered pressures of “influential people” To admit 30 candidates who, something that refused to violate the regulation.
The Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, confirms that he suggested the creation of 30 additional vacancies, but ensures that he retreated in the suggestion after the opinion of the General Inspection of Education and Science, which considered the measure unfeasible. The ruler denies having pressed the rectoraccusing him of lying, and states that he only defended the creation of additional vacancies if he respected the law.
FMUP director Altamiro da Costa Pereira recalled an interview with RTP on Friday that UP allowed the entry of candidates who also did not have the minimum grade in 2019, accusing the dean of being incoherent. In response, the university explained that the 2019 process took place in “very particular circumstances”.
According to the rectory, there are Five factors that differentiate the 2019 process This in 2025: It was the first year in which the FMUP selection process was applied, taking place within an exceptionally short period, and the difficulty demonstrated by the selection committee itself in the realization and evaluation of the test, namely in the evaluation of the 34 questions in question, thus rejecting their application in the overall evaluation of the candidates.
All candidates were on equal circumstancesSince none obtained a grade equal to or greater than 14, vacancies that could be left of this contest could not be used by other candidates, while in 2025, the vacancies surrounded by law to the National Access Competition, which allowed the entry of 30 more young people from the FMUP Medicine course, continues to the Rectory.
Finally, in 2019 there was no precedent of excluded candidates This competition for not obtaining a grade equal to or greater than 14 values, so the inequality of proceedings between candidates from previous years would not be placed, a situation that would occur in 2025, if the initial results of the competition were approved.
The Rectory ends up remembering that in 2019, after being public the list of 37 places, a candidate excluded from the competition filed a lawsuit in the administrative and tax court of Porto, which gave “the final decision of the University of Porto, as it considered that it had preserved equity among candidates in a process with the administrative vicissitudes described above ”.
