The former Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education from the last Government of António Costa, Elvira Fortunato, is on a list of 29 professors from the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa who did not comply with the exclusivity regime, according to an audit by the General Inspectorate of Education and Science (IGEC), revealed this Friday by the weekly “Sunrise“.
At issue, as reported, are payments made to these teachers through UNINOVA (Instituto Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias), 80% owned by FCT. Ultimately, teachers may have to return funds allegedly unduly received.
The director of the FCT, José Júlio Alferes, said that he has already received the audit, having 60 days to respond. As he added, UNINOVA, majority-owned by Universidade Nova, is the “armed wing” of that institution for technological research and links to companies.
“The question that arises is whether or not these teachers had to request prior authorization to participate in these projects if they had exclusive dedication. It is a procedural issue and now it is necessary to see whether or not everything was complied with, in accordance with the law, as this way of proceeding has existed since 2006 and is reflected in a protocol signed between the University and this institution. It’s nothing that we were doing strangely. The question is whether or not they had to have requested prior authorization to participate.“he explains.
Elvira Fortunato also commented on the news. “We all act in good faith. We trust our institution. In fact, I trust my university. We were taken by surprise because it seems that this protocol had problems after all, but we didn’t know. It was something dealt with at the Faculty management level with the UNINOVA management. I’m a researcher, I’m a teacher here at home,” she said.
Adding: “If I have a protocol provided to me and which tells me that it is possible, through European projects, to declare the hours we spend researching these projects, I trust it, of course.”
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