The Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education ( or MCTES) was a Portuguese government ministry dedicated to the design, development, execution and assessment of the science, technology and higher education national policy. Its official address was the Palácio das Laranjeiras in Lisbon. The rest of the education system fell within the scope of the Ministry of Education. Its last minister was Elvira Fortunato, aided by Pedro Nuno Teixeira as secretary of State of Higher Education.
Powers The MCTES' main powers are creating, executing and assessing the science, technology and higher education national policy, but it has many other powers, among them, governing the General Directorate of Higher Education (Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior), tutelage over the public higher education institutions, and tutelage and oversight over the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and the Macau Scientific and Cultural Centre.
The MCTES co-governs (with other Ministries and within its scope) the General Secretariat for Education and Science (Secretaria-Geral da Educação e Ciência), the General Inspectorate of Education and Science (Inspeção-Geral da Educação e Ciência), and the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (Direção-Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência) and has co-tutelage and co-oversight of the Institute of Financial Management of Education (Instituto de Gestão Financeira da Educação) and the Agência Nacional de Inovação.
The MCTES has legal influence over the National Agency for Management of the Erasmus+ Programme, the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and observes the work done by Portugal Space, the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation's (Agência para a Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica), and all state laboratories.
The MCTES can consult two national boards, the Education National Board and the Science, Technology and Innovation National board.
List of ministers +No.NameTerm of officePrime MinisterParty1Mariano Gago28 October 19956 April 2002António GuterresIndependent26 April 20026 October 2003José Manuel BarrosoSocial Democratic Party3Maria da Graça Carvalho6 October 200312 March 2005José Manuel Barroso, Pedro Santana LopesSocial Democratic Party -Mariano Gago12 March 200520 June 2011José SócratesIndependentNote: During the two Pedro Passos Coelho governments, this Ministry was merged back with the Ministry of Education, under the name the Ministry of Education and Science.4Manuel Heitor26 November 201530 March 2022António CostaIndependent5Elvira Fortunato30 March 20222 April 2024António CostaIndependentNote: During the Luís Montenegro government, this Ministry was merged back with the Ministry of Education, under the name the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation.
See also Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (disambiguation): Some countries had a ministry formerly with both of these names
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