The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education at a hearing of the Budget and Finance Committee – the twenty-third government

“The hearing being held here today is a hearing on the state budget in the areas of science, technology and government higher education. However, this hearing is not just a discussion about the budget, but also a strategic vision, about where we want to be a year from now, at the end of this legislature and at the end of this decade.

Our vision is to maintain the very positive trajectory that has made Portugal, in the past two decades, one of the OECD countries where the increase in higher qualifications between 25-34 years has been most expressive, rising from 17% to 47% of higher education graduates in This age group is between 2000 and 2021. This route resulted in the largest student population ever in 2021/22, with over 433,000 enrolled, and we are set to maintain that at the end of this decade we will have 6 out of 10 young adults of age 20 In tertiary education, at the moment we have 51.5% (2021), 50% of the population aged 30-34 with tertiary education, while at the moment we have 44.5% (2021).

Our vision is to deepen the higher education offer for a more diverse potential employment base, both in terms of social formation and in terms of qualification and rehabilitation of the active population, as well as in their lifelong training. This priority is not only relevant for the economic development of the country, by improving the qualifications and skills of the active population, but is also of particular importance for the higher education institutions themselves, that is, by contributing to their future sustainability. »

Read the full speech