“If the processes are wrong, complain to the Rectory of the University of Porto, because there have been no recent changes in the processes. There is indeed an oversight here. Yes, sir. My member, Master Hélio Alves, perhaps due to his naivety, his good faith, and his inexperience, instead of using the word ‘rectified,’ used the word ‘approved.’ He made a mistake. He made a mistake, God help us,” declared the director of FMUP, Altamiro da Costa Pereira, during a hearing in the Education and Science parliamentary committee taking place this afternoon in the Assembly of the Republic.
“He is a man who has worked extraordinarily,” added Altamiro da Costa Pereira about Hélio Alves, member of the Executive Council at FMUP.
The director of FMUP argued that the process of the 30 candidates for the Medicine course at U. Porto was conducted “in good faith” and regretted that the rector of the University does not want to resolve a “problem that was created by the failure to approve the legal act at FMUP.”
Altamiro da Costa Pereira also refuted today during the hearing any existence of “minutes” or “forged signatures” in this case.
The rector of the University of Porto, António de Sousa Pereira, also said today that he sent documents to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, having discovered allegedly forged minutes and signatures at FMUP.
The case of the 30 candidates for the Medicine course at U.Porto “has become a crime of document forgery,” stated the rector, after mentioning that “the cherry on top happened last week when a lady professor” from the Special Selection Committee for the Medicine course at U.Porto “said she did not participate in the minutes of the Scientific Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of U.Porto, nor did she sign them.”
The rector also reported today that he received physical threats against him and his family within the scope of the case of the 30 candidates for the Medicine course.
According to António de Sousa Pereira, the threats occurred before the publication of an article on September 5 by Expresso, in which the rector said he had received pressure from various individuals to admit 30 candidates to the Faculty of Medicine who had not obtained the minimum score of 14.
The director of FMUP stated that FMUP has not altered its admission procedures since he assumed his position.
“We have not changed our processes since 2019, since I became director. If the processes are wrong, complain to the Rectory of the University of Porto.”
In 2019, 37 candidates entered this special contest with “less than 14 points” and there was “no problem,” declared the director of FMUP, adding that the special contest was created to produce doctors with other “academic paths” and a different “maturity.”
Candidates for the special access contest to the Integrated Master’s in Medicine at U.Porto expressed grievances against the university, stating that they moved cities, left years-long jobs, invested in properties, and dropped out of master’s programs.
On September 18, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed to Lusa that an investigation is underway at the Public Prosecutor’s Office related to the case of the 30 candidates for the Medicine course at U.Porto.
