“There was honestly no longer any reason for that cut to remain, and yet it did,” acknowledged Portugal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. During his visit to Macau, Paulo Rangel also described the support as an “important aid” for an educational institution that is “fundamental” to Portugal.
The amount granted by Portuguese authorities to the EPM will therefore increase by 42 percent, rising from €776,000 (around MOP 6.6 million) to €1.2 million (around MOP 10.3 million), according to information obtained by PLATAFORMA.
Filipe Figueiredo, president of the Association of Parents and Guardians of EPM Students, stated that the Portuguese Government has once again fulfilled its “obligation,” recalling the tuition fee increases at the school in 2019 and 2020, while “nothing was done about increasing funding from the main shareholder.”
In 2021, the Portuguese School of Macau Foundation raised tuition fees by 12 percent, citing a MOP 1 million cut in the subsidy from the Macau Foundation.
The Portuguese State holds 51 percent of the capital in the EPM Foundation; however, since 2014, Lisbon had only contributed 10 percent of the school’s expenses — a decision made within the scope of Portugal’s financial bailout program.
Comments from the president of the EPM Foundation, Jorge Neto Valente, could not be obtained before this edition went to press.
Valente, in previous statements to PLATAFORMA, said the school’s operational costs exceed MOP 70 million per year, covered by MOP 9 million from the Macau Foundation and the Education Fund, with tuition fees (see box) and the Portuguese State’s subsidy “far from covering the expenses.” With this increase, the Portuguese Government’s support will now cover around 15 percent of the school’s expenses, although “even with this support, there will always be a need to rely on the Foundation’s funds,” according to a source from the Portuguese School Foundation’s administration.
Speaking to PLATAFORMA, EPM director Acácio de Brito simply stated that the increase was a “positive” development, declining to comment further.
