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UM Charter Revision Task Force travels to Portugal to borrow Portuguese experience in higher education reform

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 Group photo of the UM Charter Revision Task Force and State Secretary for Higher Education of Portugal João Filipe Queiró
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 Members of the UM Charter Revision Task Force exchange ideas with former Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal Manuel Heitor
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 Members of the UM Charter Revision Task Force exchange ideas with five members of the Portuguese Council of Rectors
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 Group photo of the UM Charter Revision Task Force and representatives from the Superior Technical Institute of Technical University of Lisbon

Recently the University of Macau (UM) Charter Revision Task Force (the Task Force) travelled to Portugal and met with representatives from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, the Portuguese Council of Rectors, and several Portuguese higher education institutions (HE institutions). Ideas were exchanged over such issues as the autonomy of HE institutions, the nature of legal personality, and foundation system for public HE institutions. The visits have deepened the Task Force’s understanding of higher education system reform in Portugal as well as the process of adopting the new higher education act in Portugal. The findings from these visits are considered to be relevant and useful to UM’s Charter revision.

Following previous visits to Asian regions, including Singapore and Hong Kong, the Task Force visited Portugal between the 25th and the 30th of September, in order to learn more about the changes and developments of the governance modes of public HE institutions in Europe in recent years. The delegation included UM Rector Wei Zhao; Task Force members Anabela Fátima Xavier Sales Ritchie, Sou Chio Fai, and Iao Man Leng; Legal Advisor of the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Manuel Fernando Manaças Ferreira; UM Vice Rector (Research) Prof. Rui Martins; and UM Vice Rector (Administration) and Task Force Secretary Dr. Alex Lai. The Task Force successively visited State Secretary for Higher Education of Portugal João Filipe Queiró; former Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal Manuel Heitor; the Superior Technical Institute of Technical University of Lisbon; the Portuguese Council of Rectors; and the University of Coimbra. The Task Force discussed the reasons why the Portuguese government passed the revised higher education act in 2007 as well as the impact of the new act, after it came into effect, on the governance autonomy, accountability, and the nature of legal personality (including the newly-established university foundation system) of public HE institutions as well as the long-term development of higher education in Portugal. The Task Force also held in-depth and fruitful discussions with leaders from relevant government departments as well as rectors and vice rectors of seven universities, namely the University of Porto, Aveiro University, Minho University, the New University of Lisbon, the University of Beira Interior, the Superior Technical Institute of Technical University of Lisbon, and the University of Coimbra.

Former Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal Manuel Heitor noted that it is an international trend in the development of higher education that public HE institutions are being granted more autonomy. In 2005, realizing the important role higher education plays in the social and economic development of Portugal—and also seeking to support the national policies aimed at raising the nation’s scientific research level—the Portuguese government commissioned the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to conduct a thorough review of the higher education situation in Portugal, and “institutional governance” was the most important issue reviewed.

State Secretary for Higher Education of Portugal João Filipe Queiró pointed out that the 2007 revision of the higher education act in Portugal was based on the review report and suggestions by the OECD and aimed to grant more autonomy to public HE institutions, and such autonomy is most evidently reflected in the organizational structure, power-responsibility relationship, financial autonomy and human resource management of HE institutions. Similar to Singapore and Hong Kong, under the new higher education act, the Portuguese government set up quality assurance and review bodies to carry out evaluation and review on HE institutions in the capacity as independent private legal persons. The Portuguese government also added a very important provision in the new higher education act, which is allowing public HE institutions to operate in the form of public foundations under private laws.

Public HE institutions in Portugal have all along been public legal persons, and therefore they are subject to laws and systems applicable to public legal persons of other administrative natures. This situation began to change in 2007 when the new higher education act introduced an operational mode where public HE institutions are allowed to operate in the form of public foundations under private laws. Under the new law, public HE institutions in Portugal are allowed to end their status as public legal person and obtain, through certain application procedures, the status as public foundation under private laws, so that they can “achieve their objectives” on the back of the “merits of the management systems and legal structures”. The University of Porto and Aveiro University have already obtained government approval to operate in the form of public foundations under private laws, and earlier Minho University also submitted an application to operate in the framework of the university foundation system. Members of the Portuguese Council of Rectors pointed out that HE institutions, if they choose to adopt the new university foundation system, will obtain more autonomy in the following three areas: (1) ownership of the institution’s fixed assets; (2) financial system independent of the government’s financial system, and (3) personnel management system no longer linked to the personnel system for civil servants. So far three public HE institutions have obtained government approval, and another one is waiting for government approval. However, heads of some Portuguese universities noted that they are now in a wait-and-see mood about the new university foundation system, because in recent years Portugal is experiencing a downward economic spiral, and some funding-related reforms have not been implemented as planned, and there are signs that the government is tightening funding for HE institutions, and maybe those are reasons why “autonomy” and “flexibility”, which are supposed to be allowed under the new system, have failed to manifest themselves, at least not to the extent anticipated.

Anabela Fátima Xavier Sales Ritchie noted that the visits enabled her to obtain more new information about the HE system reform in Portugal. She added that there are indeed some merits about the university foundation system, but in-depth examination as to whether this system is suited to the actual situation of UM and Macao is still necessary. She added that in seeking more flexibility and autonomy and a greater degree of modernization, one should follow the evolution of a system that has a lot to do with the origin and identity of UM.

UM Rector Wei Zhao noted that the new higher education act in Portugal has been formulated on the basis of the rigorous review report by OECD as well as the relevant experience of advanced European countries such as Germany, Sweden and Austria, and therefore it is of great relevance and use to UM’s Charter revision. Wei Zhao also remarked that given that UM is the same as the public HE institutions in Portugal in that institutional autonomy is hamstrung by their status as public legal person, the newly-established university foundation system in Portugal is indeed worth studying, because it may offer a solution to the financial, property, administrative and personnel management difficulties faced by public HE institutions, including UM. He added that he will further discuss with the other Task Force members about the feasibility of implementing this system at UM.
 


12/10/2011