He always said he would tackle the Government head on, and Algarve University rector António Branco is running true to form this week, demanding equal rights for his “ignored” students in the south.
The problem this time is the lack of availability of scholarships under the State’s Mais Superior programme.
The reason, according to the Government, is that the Algarve is now no longer considered a “poor region”, and thus money from the programme – financed by the EU’s social fund – cannot be channeled in to help local students.
Declaring the reasons to be “unfair for students and their families”, Branco has managed to pigeonhole Secretary of State for Higher Education José Ferreira Gomes, who has promised that the two of them will get together and “seek alternative ways of including the University of the Algarve in the Mais Superior programme in the next academic year”, a press release from the University has revealed.
Algarve University boss back on warpath
