This Thursday, the prime minister assumed the goal that Portugal have 26,000 beds for students in 2026, in a speech in which he considered the issue of accommodation as one of the biggest obstacles to accessing higher education.
This objective was conveyed by António Costa at the Academy of Sciences, in Lisbon, at the end of a session aimed at signing 119 residency projects for higher education students, which was attended by the Ministers of Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato , and the Presidency. , Mariana Vieira da Silva.
In this ceremony, contracts were signed for projects with financing already secured. In addition to higher education institutions, the contracts included social entities, municipalities, among other public bodies.
In total, according to the Government, the 119 student housing projects with guaranteed funds cover 51 municipalities, of which 23 are related to buildings that will be built from scratch, totaling 9,356 new beds.
“We are facing a general mobilization of the Portuguese society to guarantee a fundamental objective: to have affordable housing for students to eliminate one of the greatest barriers to access to Higher Education”, declared the Prime Minister.
In his speech, António Costa stressed that, from 15,000 beds, Portugal will go to 26,000 beds by the end of 2026.
“The goal is not individualized by polytechnic institute, by university or by municipalities. Either we comply with everything or we receive nothing,” she warned, referring to the rules of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
According to the prime minister, in terms of strategy to improve qualifications, by 2030, six out of 10 20-year-olds should attend higher education. Between 30 and 34 years old, Portugal should have 50% of this age group with higher education completed by the end of the decade.
“Today, after the progress of the last 20 years, we already have 43.7%”, he observed, before referring to the growing diversification of the offer at the higher education level, which already has 138 locations.
According to António Costa, this increase in supply also increases the number of displaced students throughout the country, a movement that he considered important in the civic learning and growth of each young person, but that also implies more accommodation.
“We are well aware that the liberalization of the housing market is irreversible and has significantly increased the pressure on the cost of housing. The growth in tourist demand in the country has also put a lot of pressure on the price of housing, with many houses converted into local accommodation,” said the leader of the Executive.
In this context, according to the Prime Minister, the State “really has to make this investment in accommodation for higher education students”.
“We have to be able to mobilize all the resources and, for this reason, in the PRR one of the priorities was even to invest in housing for higher education students. It is 375 million euros ”, she considered.
However, according to António Costa, the needs made the number of approved projects exceed the allocated amount and this situation led the executive to reinforce this program with another 72 million euros.
“Soon we will have another ceremony to contract with more entities,” he said.
Elvira Fortunato, who opened the session, praised the performance of her predecessor in the Higher Education portfolio, Manuel Heitor, in terms of financing contracts for student residences.
Then, the minister defended that the country faces “the largest investment in history in residences for higher education students.”
“Given the reinforcement that was achieved in the PRR, it will be possible to move on to all of the 134 approved projects, which will involve three more municipalities, in addition to the 51 municipalities already covered. We will have more national coverage, especially in the Azores region”, he said.
In total, the executive claims to have guaranteed PRR financing for 15,800 new beds, projects that will be completed in 2026, which will double the public offer of student accommodation.
In general terms, the Government is now reinforcing the financing of the National Housing Plan for Students (PNAES), for which 375 million euros from the PRR had already been allocated. Some 2,500 new beds of the total of 12,000 announced in July by the Government are at stake. The Government also highlights that 9,400 places are guaranteed in residences that will be built in the next four years.
Source: Observadora
