Setback or visionary decision? – observer

Since 1975, the Ministry of Education has had a variety of names — and responsibilities, it seems. In 1975, education was directly linked to scientific research (Ministry of Education and Scientific Research); It makes sense, because there is no education without a connection to science because the world evolves and, as a result, all the knowledge that has to be imparted also evolves.

This designation remained until 1979. For a brief period, just a few months, science became associated with Culture and Cultural Coordination (Ministry for Cultural Coordination, Culture and Science – from August 1979 to January 1980) – and after that, again, we had the Ministry of Education and Science, although It was only 18 months later (September 1981) that science and culture were linked again and we had a Ministry of Culture and Scientific Coordination.

After 1983, science became integrated into various ministries, or into the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Higher education has always been about education.

In 1995, with Mariano Gago, we had the first Ministry of Science and Technology (without education, higher education continued alongside other educational degrees). The great leap forward in science in Portugal was, without a doubt, thanks to Mariano Gago.

In 2002 (the second Guterres government), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education finally emerged. But we must be very honest, Mariano Gago was during this period an exceptional Minister of Science, not an exceptional Minister of Higher Education.

Until 2011, with some variants, we had the Ministries of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the latter again with Mariano Gago and with more attention to higher education with the departure of the RJIES and the Bologna reform, but always with a greater focus on science. Finally, in 2011, under the government of Passos Coelho, the Ministry of Education and Science was created again, with the State Secretariats for Higher Education and the State Secretariat for Science.

From 2015 until now, we have a Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education.

Minister Manuel Heitor was in charge of the ministry between 2015 and 2022, and he was a visionary when it came to science, and whether you agree with the strategy he outlined or not, and I agree with him, there is no debate that he had a strategy for science. Development of science. However, I did not realize that he had such a well-designed strategy for higher education (like Mariano Gago). The relationship between higher education, especially university, was weak in the ministry. There was only one State Secretariat with no delegated powers.

From 2022 to 2024, Elvira Fortunato took over the position of Minister, although she went almost unnoticed, especially since in the end she had little time to define her strategy for science. As for higher education, the fact is that it was delegated to the Minister of State – the Minister of State for Higher Education – higher education remained in the State Secretariat and, in a way, was separated from science.

Now we have a Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, and we immediately began to hear voices (former ministers, academic societies, university professors) saying that this was a step backwards.

Will it be a step backwards or will it be visionary?

Don't we want, doesn't the country want more and more research and innovation?

Isn't it certain that if we encourage young people to research from an early age, we will have more critical spirit, more research ability and greater opportunities to develop scientific innovation?

Yes proven!

In fact, the Ciência Viva Centers were Mariano Gago's response to expanding the reach of science to young people. Because it is essential.

Therefore, combining education, science and innovation is not a mistake, but rather the result of a country with a mature scientific community, which desires to expand the horizons of science to include all forms of teaching. Sounds like a vision to me!

Combining education and higher education? Aside from the fact that all degrees are education, which is obvious, this connection has probably been missing for a very long time.

The protest you hear in universities (I'm a professor) that students are “becoming less prepared every year” is probably not the students' fault, but the fact that higher education doesn't even have a clue about the future. The development that is yours biography Secondary education has suffered over the years.

I don't know if that's the case but it could be!

We don't know everything that happened before and how it happened, and it may be helpful to know these past paths.

Pointing out that if we want to reduce higher education, which has been successively reduced, then merging it with education is premature, and it can succeed, and it can be a step forward, as will certainly be the connection between sciences, which should not be limited to higher education to education in general. general.

Let us wait for the organization of the ministry, let us wait for the results, and do not rush to destroy what has not yet begun.

It strikes me as bold and prescient, not the other way around.