“We only know what the media reports (…) we do not wish to comment because we lack further information,” said José Moreira in a phone call to Lusa agency.
“Indeed, we find it strange that we have not received any information regarding this restructuring of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation [MECI] services, especially concerning Higher Education,” he noted, mentioning that the union met with the minister on July 23 in the context of the review of the Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES), and nothing was communicated to them.
With the reform approved by the Council of Ministers, the MECI will now have only seven entities (currently there are 18), and the dissolved ones will be integrated into new organizations.
This includes the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the National Innovation Agency (ANI), whose functions will be taken over by the new Agency for Research and Innovation.
According to José Moreira, this “in theory, is not necessarily bad,” but the union’s assessment will depend mainly “on the structure and the mission that this new funding agency will have.”
It is also important for the union to know whether the new entity will depend solely on MECI or also on other ministries.
“Regarding the merger of the Directorate-General for Higher Education and, if I am not mistaken, the Erasmus+ agency, we have exactly the same position; in principle, this merger seems more straightforward to us, bringing these two institutions together into one (…), but unfortunately, we did not receive any further information,” he said.
“In any case, we always find it odd when announcements are made on the eve of holidays or during periods of less activity, such as August or during Christmas time,” he further stated, adding that there seemed to be some haste and that SNESup would have “liked to have had more dialogue” about the reform.
The Government intends to redefine the structure of the various ministries and expects this process to be completed by the end of the first half of 2026.
Changes in MECI are set to take effect immediately after the new structure’s publication in the Diário da República.
