Portugal's president enacts higher education overhaul and emergency medical reform, greenlights Porto technical university
President António José Seguro signed into law a new legal framework for higher education and a restructured emergency medical institute, alongside decrees creating the Technical University of Porto and integrating a hotel school into Nova University.
Portuguese President António José Seguro promulgated a package of legislative decrees on Tuesday, reshaping the country's higher education landscape and overhauling the national emergency medical service. The enactments, published on the presidency's official website, follow months of parliamentary and government approvals.
Higher education reform
The centrepiece is the new Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES), which replaces legislation in force since 2007. Parliament approved the text on 8 May with votes from the centre-right PSD, CDS-PP, Chega and the liberal IL; the Socialist Party, Livre, Left Bloc and Communist Party voted against, while the single deputies of PAN and JPP abstained. The law permits mergers between universities and polytechnics and even allows private institutions to be integrated into public ones. Universities may now also offer higher professional technical courses. While the distinction between university and polytechnic subsystems remains, polytechnic institutes can convert into polytechnic universities. The title of 'rector' becomes the sole designation for heads of both types of institution.
greater flexibility, higher remuneration and a different clinical governance model
INEM gains special status and AI tools
Seguro also promulgated the new organic law of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), approved by the Council of Ministers on 7 May. The institute acquires the legal status of a Special Regime Public Institute, which Health Minister Ana Paula Martins said guarantees greater flexibility, higher pay and a revamped clinical governance structure. The presidency of the administrative board no longer must be held by a doctor; instead, the board will include a clinical director and a nursing director, mirroring the governance model of local health units. The reform emphasises technology, with urgent patient guidance centres set to use artificial intelligence tools and improved information system interoperability. The INEM overhaul follows a turbulent period: strikes by pre-hospital emergency technicians in late 2024 forced the minister to take direct control and announce a 'refoundation' of the institute. The law has drawn criticism from former INEM presidents and protests from emergency technicians.
New university and other decrees
Two further decrees reshape the academic map. The Polytechnic Institute of Porto is elevated to the Technical University of Porto, a transformation announced by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro on 21 May after a cabinet meeting in Pombal. On the same date, the government announced the integration of the Estoril Higher School of Hotel and Tourism into the Nova University of Lisbon, a move now formalised by presidential promulgation. A fourth decree updates the legal framework for livestock farming, revising a 2013 law on the registration of farms, warehouses and grouping centres.
- Council of Ministers approves new INEM organic law.
- Parliament approves the new RJIES higher education law.
- Prime Minister announces creation of Technical University of Porto and integration of Estoril hotel school into Nova University.
- President Seguro promulgates all decrees: RJIES, INEM law, Technical University of Porto, Estoril school integration, and livestock regime.
Political context
The promulgations consolidate a legislative push that began in spring. The higher education law passed with a right-of-centre majority, while the INEM reform was driven by the health ministry's response to operational crises. The creation of the Technical University of Porto and the Estoril school integration fulfil pledges made by Montenegro's government during its regional outreach.
