Luiz Fagundes Duarte assures payment of tuition fees to grant holders of University of the Azores
The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture assured on Friday that grant holders of the University of the Azores will not be affected with regard to the payment of tuition fees for the current year of the contract.
Luiz Fagundes Duarte spoke to journalists at the end of hearing with the Committee on Social Affairs of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores. The government official said that the monthly amount awarded to grant holders supported by the Region is, on average, 200 Euros higher than that allocated to their peers in Mainland Portugal.
The Regional Secretary also stressed that, contrary to what is happening in the rest of the country, the Azores are not undertaking a downward revision of the existing contracts.
For Luiz Fagundes Duarte, the situation of researchers supported by the Regional Fund for Science is, despite the current economic and financial context, far better than the situation of those supported by the National Government.
Furthermore, the Regional Secretary confirmed that the rules on grants are under revision, which is being carried out in conjunction with the national entity that oversees the awarding of research grants.
However, Luiz Fagundes Duarte specified that new contracts will not provide funds for the payment of tuition fees.