Portuguese universities told to resume face-to-face activity

Government urges higher education to begin preparing for autumn semester

Portugal’s minister for science and higher education, Manuel Heitor, has called on universities and polytechnics to begin resuming face-to-face activities this month, following campus closures due to Covid-19.

“Universities and knowledge demand people,” Heitor (pictured) said in a speech at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Nova University Lisbon, announcing the return to classes.

He called on institutions to begin preparing for the next academic year, saying they “must start to be prepared now, without waiting until September”. A mixture of in-person teaching and distance learning will be needed, he said.

Rules will be relaxed to enable universities and polytechnics to admit students who have finished secondary education but not taken standardised entrance exams.