PortugalA1993 OECD report, Reviews of National Science and Technology Policy - Portugal, gives a convenient overview of Portuguese science: it has developed very quickly from the very low level at the time of the military dictatorship that "feared God more than it revered science". [p.17] For example, in 1981, at the beginning of the democratic period, the illiteracy rate of over-15 year olds was still 20%. [p.59] The OECD report of 1993 reported sweeping improvements in all levels of education. The generally upbeat report pointed to a few problems such as the rigidity of the public sector research establishments. It noted the Portuguese failure to adjust research to the increasing importance of economic objectives. [p. 71] Another characteristic of the Portuguese R&D system was the weakness of links and synergies between funding and performing of R&D. Nearly all R&D funding would appear to be for "own consumption" in each sector; the Government thus funds 96.5% of its own R&D and 94.6% of R&D in higher education, whereas enterprises fund 88.8% of R&D in their own enterprises. [p.31] Partly to address such issues, the Portuguese administration was rearranged and a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) was set up in 1997 within the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The Portuguese government has been increasing its revenue for the last few decades (average annual growth of GDP: 1990-1995: 1.7%; 1995-1999: 3.3%.) enabling it to invest more in research. The FCT funds institutions, projects and gives grants with the general aim of promoting scientific research and the national technological development. Much emphasis is put on decentralization and bolstering the autonomy the local responsibility of scientific institutions. Transparency of the decision making process and the establishment of panels with foreign scientists deciding on the allocation of resources is intended to create flexibility and a focus on demand. The FCT directly funds institutions in the area of Materials Science & Engineering.
The Universidade Nova de Lisboa has a Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais that has granted a bachelor degree (licenciatura) in Materials Engineering for 21 years. Its current size can be gauged by the 30 new student grants offered in the summer of 2002. In the curriculum an Introduction to Materials Science & Engineering is given in the first year, amongst basic math, physics, chemistry, and computer skills. The bibliography for the 2000/2001 course lists:
testifying to the dominance of US publishing houses. The following years offer specialised courses in materials specific fields: crystal chemistry, solid state electronics, metallurgy, polymers, and ceramics and glasses. The Department's website, targeted to prospective students, makes much of the industrial relevance of the field and lists many alumni mentioning the many diverse organizations where they have found employment. Several other universities now also offer a B.Eng. in Materials Science & Engineering. The Technical University of Lisbon has a Departamento de Engenharia de Materiais, in which the introductory course on materials uses the very same textbooks. Since 1994, the University of Lisbon has a Centro de Ciências Moleculares e Materiais, a research center that contributes to courses and research activities in the physics and chemistry departments. The University of Coimbra has had a Department of Materials Engineering since 1991. The University of Porto has three units: a Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering; a Materials Center, operating directly under the university's rectorate; and an Institute for Materials Physics. The University of Aveiro has a Department of Ceramics and Glass Engineering established already in 1976, that also grants a degree in Materials Engineering. A materials generic approach is clearly visible in institutional structures and some university curricula. The relationship between university and industry is being addressed in the mission statements of the FCT, but some of the weaknesses pointed out in the 1993 OECD report still remain. Michael Athans, an MIT Professor Emeritus, spent three years as Visiting Research Professor at the Instituto de Sistemas e Róbotoca, of the Lisbon Technical University, and he wrote a report on his perspective of the ailments of the Portuguese system. He found "minimal interaction between universities and Portuguese industry" and recommended that faculty consult one day a week in industry, an arrangement currently prevented by distrust on both sides: companies' fear of disclosure of trade secrets and universities meddling with extracurricular financial arrangements of faculty. He also recommended that industrial experts be brought in to teach at the universities on a part-time basis, so that students learn about design-oriented topics and cost-benefit analyses. He also found other shortcomings, such as students being spoonfed instead of practising the solution of problems, but the main point for our purposes is that Rome wasn't built in one day: the separation between theory and practice is larger in Portugal than at MIT: the linear model still prevails in Portugal despite the rhetoric at the level of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Finally, the economic backdrop to materials research in Portugal of course differs markedly from that in the US. Its main export category is machinery and electrical goods (18.9%) but the manufacturing sector remains small: Ford and Volkswagen have invested in a manufacturing venture knows as AutoEuropa, and the plant accounts for 10% of Portuguese merchandise exports. Transport equipment accounts for 15%, but other categories, e.g. base metals, footwear, pulp, wood, and cork, constitute primary products with little high-tech labor done within Portugal itself. There is no military/industrial complex in Portugal, and the high-tech, industrial part of the economy is also comparatively small. There is no pull towards a materials-generic approach, but there is considerable pressure to adopt to the conventional economic wisdom: a non-linear approach to research and development, integrating universities more into the general economy.
This page was written and last updated on 20 August 2002 by Arne Hessenbruch. |
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