The Minister of Education defended this Tuesday that public residences must have students from different social strata, otherwise, giving priority to scholarship holders, they will deteriorate more quickly.
The Minister of Education states that public residences must have students from various social strata and not just students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. This is because, he added, by giving priority to scholarship holders, the residences will deteriorate more quickly.
“We are going to have renovated residences, which in five years’ time will all be in disrepair,” said the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre.
For the ruler, is for “placing students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds who are degraded in university residence”adding that “what will happen to residences depends on universities and polytechnics, but it also depends on students”.
The minister revealed this Tuesday that he had presented a proposal at the beginning of the month to rectors, presidents of polytechnics and students that envisaged assign the same value for accommodation to all students displaced in the same city. The idea was to give students the freedom to choose whether they wanted to stay in a public residence or rent a private room.
“Academic residences should be spaces of integration, well-being and promotion of academic success, and not, as they currently are, and have always been in Portugal, spaces where students with lower incomes are placed”, defended Fernando Alexandre.
Deans didn’t like the idea
The minister revealed this Tuesday that he wanted to change this concept and end the “stigma” that public residences are only for scholarship holders, but neither the rectors nor the presidents of the polytechnic institutes liked the idea and, therefore, retreated.
Fernando Alexandre recognized that the model would be a challenge for institutionsbecause there would be “almost competition” with the private sector, forcing the creation of “sufficiently attractive” spaces and institutions feared being left with “unoccupied rooms in residences”.
“I must say that if we reached a situation where we had unoccupied rooms in residences, it would be a good sign: we would have put an end to the housing problem in Portugal”, he argued, adding that next year there will be another 11 thousand beds available.
Faced with opposition from those responsible for higher education institutions, the supervisory authority decided that, when calculating the value of the scholarship to be awarded, there will be different prices for those who get a place in a residence and those who rent privately.
Os scholarship holders will always have to compete for residencies and, only when there are no vacancies, can they request support for a private room.
To journalists, he clarified that the association he made has to do with “the quality of public services”: “We have to keep families of all incomes having the National Health Service and Public Schools as a priority. When this stops happening, it often leads to a deterioration in services”.
More news in higher education
This Tuesday, the ministry presented new features to the proposed revision of the regulation on higher education scholarships, which should now include a for students who in secondary education were category A beneficiaries of the family allowance.
The calculation formula should also be changed to a model that is “fairer because it more appropriately differentiates the economic situation of students and the place where they study”, explained the Secretary of State for Higher Education, Cláudia Sarrico.
A new formula will take into account “the real cost” of studyingwhich is different depending on the municipality where the student studies, but also whether or not they are displaced and the family’s income.
According to Fernando Alexandre, the maximum scholarship should be 8,177 euros per year and the new rules should come into force in the next academic year.
