The National Associative Movement of Higher Education Students defended this Tuesday the reduction of tuition fees and an additional reinforcement of the financing of institutions to respond to the effects of the crisis and inflation.
The position published on this day by the movement representing higher education students was taken during the National Meeting of Associative Directions, which took place over the weekend at ISCTE, in Lisbon.
Among the various claims, students advocate a 6.8% increase in the endowment of higher education institutions in response to rising inflationa proposal almost double that of guardianship for next year.
On the part of the Government, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education anticipated in August that the base endowments of universities and polytechnics should grow by 44 million euros in the General State Budgets for 2023, 3.7% more than in 2022 , but the students is still insufficient.
On the other hand, the student associations also agreed on the need to reduce the value of tuition fees for degreeswithout quantifying, and regulating the rates of master’s degrees, to which they also want to see the Mais Superior scholarships extended.
To support from 1st cycle students to researchers, the Student Movement advocates the creation of three lines of funding: for research scholarships, for undergraduate and master’s students with the aim of providing technical and logistical support in institutions and for undergraduate students. master’s, doctorate and postgraduate courses that they teach.
In the context of social action, which they want to promote, they propose to freeze the maximum value of social food, the rehabilitation of public canteens and the monitoring of the effectiveness of the social action system, as well as school desertion.
The associations also discussed issues related to with access to the profession and they were unanimous, for example, regarding the need to regulate the values of fees and emoluments for registration in professional associations and improve the conditions of compulsory professional practices.
On the other hand, regarding the employability of the courses, they propose the creation of an interministerial working group to assess the training needs of the different professional activities and draw up a set of recommendations “on the essential skills for the exercise of professional activities that require higher education,” the statement read.
The proposals of the Student Movement are announced a few days before the start of the school year in public higher education, which for most institutions started on Monday, with the exception of new students, who only start classes on September 19.
The student associations will meet again on November 12, at the National Meeting of Associative Directions, which takes place in Aveiro.
Source: Observadora
