“The independence of A3ES is essential; it is a fundamental condition for any agency, but that independence must be exercised within the context of a very clear mandate,” stated Fernando Alexandre on the sidelines of João Sàágua’s inauguration as the new president of the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), succeeding the former rector of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
While the mandate is, “from a very generic point of view,” to preserve and promote the quality of the higher education system, the minister admits that “perhaps there is a need to further clarify this mandate.”
“That is the only issue; the independence is not in question, but the independence of any agency always comes with the mandate and accountability for fulfilling or not fulfilling this mandate, that’s the point we have been emphasizing,” he stated.
The Minister of Education attended the ceremony where João Sàágua took over from João Guerreiro, who had faced criticism from Fernando Alexandre. Months ago, in an interview, Alexandre questioned the transparency of the agency’s operational model and expressed dissatisfaction over changes made without his knowledge, as recalled today by Público newspaper.
João Guerreiro, for his part, expressed criticism over the changes the government intends to introduce into the higher education evaluation process through amendments to the Legal Framework for Higher Education Institutions (RJIES), currently under parliamentary discussion and still subject to potential alterations by lawmakers.
Guerreiro also questioned the possibility of Portuguese institutions having their courses accredited only by European agencies and whether national institutions and evaluators could still be involved in this process. These doubts and criticisms were echoed by another former president of A3ES, Alberto Amaral, who warned of potential risks of lowering accreditation standards, which the minister rejected today.
Fernando Alexandre stated that the possibility already exists, emphasizing that accreditation by European agencies will always comply with European rules and that A3ES “does not have to hold this exclusivity.”
The minister denied any erosion of A3ES’s accreditation powers, assured that rigor and quality would be heightened, and pointed to “confusion” between the role of the agency and the competencies of the government and legislators in defining criteria, which are set in the legislation governing academic degrees and diplomas.
“It is not the agency that defines what the criteria are; the criteria should be defined by the government and are set in a law. We are revising the law to make it more stringent, not less,” he said.
Fernando Alexandre emphasized that the ongoing reforms in higher education and science “will be significant for the role the agency will play.”
“In some dimensions, we believe it is necessary to be more demanding in Portugal, to have much more stringent criteria than those currently applied by the agency. However, this is not about the agency’s activity per se, but, for example, about the decree on degrees and diplomas, where the conditions for granting diplomas are defined, and it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure this, hence the revision,” he said.
Regarding the proposal for the State Budget for 2026 and the allocation for student accommodation, Fernando Alexandre said that what is being done in this area is to implement the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), expecting to have an additional eight to nine thousand beds available in the next academic year.
