The University of the Algarve will increase the number of places for a medical course, aiming to reach 100 places per year, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education announced this Wednesday.

During the afternoon, Manuel Heitor said, “I will be in the Algarve this afternoon to witness the unique and unprecedented agreement between the Association of Algarve Municipalities (Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve – AMAL) that has met and will co-finance the expansion of medical education.” The hearing that took place today in the Education Committee.

According to the minister, “this year there are already 64 students duly accredited by the accreditation agency” and AMAL’s support “will be particularly crucial, over the next few years, to reach the 100 vacant medical positions per year in the Algarve.”

Manuel Heitor pointed out that this is a project that spans more than a decade. “In the Algarve, we have been able to resume, with an unprecedented effort by the municipalities, what was an initial commitment, more than ten years ago, when vacancies in medicine were fixed: it started at 24, it went to 48, and the idea is to expand to 100.”

The Medicine course will operate “in close association with the Clinical Academic Center of the Algarve”.

In the case of Algarve, Manuel Heitor noted that this is a critical problem that has already been observed, for example, in Loulé’s new certified infrastructure – the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC) installation – and the growth in supply of health technologies in Portimao.

The ABC Loulé Center for Health Research is a center linked to research, health, and science.

The government official indicated that increasing vacancies in medical courses was a “priority” for him. “This is an aspect that I have taken in political work as a high priority both in the Algarve and in our future centers for the potential development of teaching in biomedical fields,” he said.

Again this year, medical schools will not increase the available places, making 1,441 places available in the National Higher Education Access Competition.

Although the government is allowing courses sought by the best students to grow by up to 15%, medical schools have advocated that there are no requirements to take in more students.