The University of Évora (UÉ) is preparing a study plan and an accreditation proposal for a Medicine course at the academy, which, if it comes to fruition, will not be before the 2025/2026 academic year, it was announced today.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, UÉ’s rector, Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar, revealed that a working group, coordinated by doctor and researcher Lino Patrício, is working on the creation of a medical course.
“The UÉ already has a working group that brings together people from the university and outside, which is designing a study plan and a proposal to present a Medicine course, which I hope will be accredited soon,” he said.
Without committing to dates, the rector indicated that medicine at the UÉ would not go ahead in the next academic year, as the courses now submitted to the Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency “will only be able to start in the 2025/2026 academic year”.
“At best in 2025/2026, but I’m not saying we’re going to open that year,” he stressed, adding that the Alentejo academy wants to “move forward with some speed, but in a safe way” to create the course.
Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar said that, in addition to preparing the study plan and the accreditation proposal, the UÉ is also looking to establish partnerships and agreements with other institutions to “strengthen and consolidate this offer” in the area of Medicine.
“We’re still trying, and I think we’ll be able to achieve this soon, to acquire a space next to the new hospital to build the new School of Health,” she added.
The land that UÉ intends to acquire is owned by the Portuguese state, covers an area of four hectares and is located next to the future Alentejo Central Hospital, which is under construction on the outskirts of Évora.
“I think the construction of the new hospital is a very important element in moving forward with the medical course” at the Alentejo institution, not least because “there is a need for a new medical course in the south of the country”, he stressed.
According to the rector, the university wants to bring together the schools of Health and Human Development and the São João de Deus School of Nursing, which is currently located next to Évora’s Espírito Santo Hospital.
The future hospital, under construction on the outskirts of Évora, is expected to have 360 beds in single rooms, which could be increased to 487 if necessary.
The new unit, whose construction is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2024, will cost more than 200 million euros and will have, among other facilities, 11 operating theaters, three of which will be for conventional activities, six for outpatient and two for emergencies, five preoperative rooms and 43 recovery rooms.
