Professor Doutor José Fernandes e Fernandes
Diretor da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa
The year of 2012 will certainly be difficult for academic institutions: a reduction in the budget of the UL, blocking of revenue and the substantial increase in the cost of goods, energy, equipment etc. are real situations with a negative impact for the fulfilment of the mission and the management of the Faculty of Medicine.
The reduction of FMUL’s public budget in 2011, the renegotiation of the teaching contracts with the Air Force and the Navy and a decrease in the demand for advanced training led to a 9.4% reduction in the Faculty’s overall revenue and subsequent constraint in the availability of funds for investment. And in 2012 there is a further reduction of 22.5% in the public budget of FMUL and additional blocking of financial resources of € 320.682,00, which occurred after official confirmation of the surplus with regard to the 2011 financial year!
Therefore, it is in the context of this difficult scenario, which requires strict cost control and maximum optimization of our human and material resources to enable us to continue some of the essential development projects that we have been pursuing since 2005, that I propose a brief reflection on action taken so far and on projects for the near future.
The Curricular Reform started in the 2007-2008 academic year, which introduced more integrated interdisciplinary educational models that had a positive impact on the quality and modernity of teaching, the structuring of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML), which fostered stronger links between the founding institutions that coexist in the same academic campus, the commitment to research and administrative modernization enabling a rigorous and effective management of the Faculty, are real situations which will allow us to continue our work and ensure our support to scientific research as a differentiating feature in teaching and qualification of clinical and academic practice. Enhanced dialogue with students’ representatives and their Association, their cooperation and active involvement in monitoring the Curricular Reform through the Year Councils and Faculty activities have strengthened the soul of the institution and its cohesiveness.
The official creation of the Doctoral programme of CAML, which is an innovative initiative with a significant number of enrolled students, has led to the higher involvement of HSM - CHLN clinical groups in biomedical and clinical research projects, and attests the advancement of scientific research and academic renewal, aiming at maintaining the leading position of CAML institutions as a whole in scientific publications referenced in the Web of Knowledge.
The Faculty has always cooperated actively and with loyalty with the UL in administrative reorganization and in implementing the Strategic Areas defined in the new statutes of the UL, and we have publicly shown our support and institutional solidarity to the proposed merger between the two universities, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for progress and renewal to which FMUL is deeply committed.
The administrative modernization undertaken over the past years has created a core dynamic and innovative working group, and has led to increased efficacy in everyday management and planning, which is indispensable in this difficult period of financial constraint. It has also allowed FMUL to significantly contribute to the restructuring of the shared services of the UL (SPUL).
In addition to financial restraint and the optimization of human and material resources, the current scenario demands new measures to promote the visibility and recognition of the FMUL as an exemplary institution in the provision of training in Medicine, Biomedical and Health Sciences and in scientific research, which also contribute to increasing the Faculty’s own revenue.
It is a challenge and an opportunity, to which I appeal to the commitment of everyone.
In accordance with the general guidelines of the Rector’s Office for the UL, all new contracts in the administrative sector and teaching appointments have been suspended. However, the strict management of human resources that has been conducted has enabled the opening of two Full Professor posts in the sector of Physiological Sciences and of new Associate Professor posts, in addition to maintaining and strengthening new ambulatory and hospital health units so as to ensure clinical diversity and acceptable teaching/student ratios in clinical teaching. I should mention the new association protocol agreed between the new hospital in Loures and the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML), which will minimize the impact of the departure of some lecturers from the Faculty and will enable them to pursue their teaching careers, and which will create a new educational offer in the clinical areas. The number of students admitted to the Faculty has stabilized and I hope that, in the near future, rigour and objectivity in the policy of access to medical schools, which is decided by the Ministry of Education, will prevail.
We need to ensure the highest pedagogical return in the Institutes and University Clinics and the quality and effectiveness of the education provided.
In what concerns the administrative sector, the implementation of the administrative units is underway in order to bring together resources and better integration of available technical and administrative skills, thereby providing better service to students and lecturers.
The containment policy imposes financial accounting of all actual maintenance costs and the feasibility of all available areas and services, and this will require greater precision when drafting research projects, taking into account the foreseeable need to increase institutional overheads that will enable the Faculty to guarantee the provision of essential services for the proper functioning of the facilities and the support of new projects, such as the vivarium and the bio-bank, among others, which are vital to the advancement of scientific research. The Faculty cannot, and should not, reduce its commitment and support to scientific research, to the progress of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), the Associate Laboratory and the founding institution of CAML and to the development of new projects that promote scientific differentiation and contribute to the integration of our Academic Medical Centre in the first league of European medical institutions.
It is a necessity and a priority.
The construction of the new building on this campus derives from the programme-contract signed with the government in the late 1990s and the bestowing of the Câmara Pestana Institute to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the UNL. The funding is secured by specific PIDDAC funds allocated to the UL for that purpose and attract no direct charges for FMUL. It is an opportunity that could not have been rejected – it was, unfortunately, delayed – and it is a short and medium-term strategic investment for the expansion of clinical and translational research. It will enhance the intervention capacity of the Academic Centre in new research and training areas, namely through the creation of the Bioimaging Centre, the Simulation Centre, the clinical research unit for the coordination of clinical trials to be carried out within CAML institutions, of the Cardiovascular Centre and it will act as a hub to the centre of convergence of bio sciences with engineering in the context of our cooperation with the Instituto Superior Técnico and of the new institution resulting from the merger of the UL with the Technical University of Lisbon. It will also provide structural means for the development of advanced training in areas of interest in which the participation of CAML institutions is a guarantee of scientific quality and educational rigour.
In fact, advanced training must be a priority for the Faculty and the CAML. Our experience has been positive and it has extended the Faculty’s commitment to postgraduate training and continuing education. However, we need to reformulate some projects and make them more competitive in the context of educational provision in the city, come up with some areas that meet educational needs and foster active demand and, thanks to the quality of our involvement, thus contribute to the scientific and professional development of Medicine and Biomedical and Health Sciences.
This is a challenge to which I renew my appeal for the wider engagement of the academic, clinical and researcher leaderships that are part of CAML. I believe it is vital to introduce new training programmes, particularly of a multidisciplinary nature where out academic and clinical skills are effective added value in terms of training provision, as well specialized sectors of clinical performance and biosciences. The new professional Master Degrees, such as the one in Cardiovascular Intervention and the new proposed master in Nutrition offered jointly with the Escola de Tecnologias da Saúde, the new Master in Biomedical Technologies in cooperation with IST aimed at those with training needs in Bio Engineering applied to Medicine and Biology, and the Master in Oncobiology offered by the CAML, constitute an opportunity for the scientific affirmation of the Faculty of Medicine, which is paramount to promote and strengthen our educational provision in the Master Degree Programmes that have brought prestige to our Medical School.
It was also to this effect that the Faculty established the Calouste Gulbenkian Chair with the funds and support of the Gulbenkian Foundation, which initially will focus on intervention in Palliative and Continuing Care, thus providing a new élan to an innovative project of the Faculty which has met with academic recognition and demand.
Indeed, the progressive structuring of the CAML will offer new opportunities for advanced training programmes involving the HSM–CHLN for all health professionals working in this academic campus, ranging from postgraduate courses to new master degrees that is paramount to create, and to the consolidation of CAML ‘s new doctoral programme in order to ensure a leading role for the Faculty and the Academic Centre in this sector too.
I would like to reiterate the commitment, support and collaboration of FMUL in the development of the HSM-CHLN in this difficult context of financial restrictions, and in the restructuring of the hospital network in the city and in the region. Given its nature, the HSM - CHLN is a clinical and academic institution of reference with unmatched ability to offer differentiated and complementary services, devoted to areas of great clinical and therapeutical complexity which require the convergence of the diverse skills available at this great hospital. HSM–CHLN is a vital part of the Academic Centre, it is its heart and an essential foundation for modern and quality under and postgraduate education in Medicine, Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as for practical training in areas such as Nursing, Health Technologies and others.
I also reaffirm the commitment of the Faculty and of CAML to the advancement of a policy of Institutional Affiliation to other Hospitals and Health Centres that must be strengthened despite the present constraints, in order to provide more educational opportunities for our students and create opportunities for research and innovation of mutual interest.
The situations and projects I have mentioned must mobilize our capacity for action and help us, on an individual and collective basis, strengthen our courage and decision to overcome the difficulties of the Present and not relinquish our responsibility towards the Future.
The proposed merger of the two universities of Lisbon, the Classical and the Technical, is a major challenge and a unique opportunity to academically assert ourselves in the city, in the country, and internationally. The Faculty of Medicine, as part of the Academic Medical Centre, is deeply committed to that project and ready to participate in a creative way in the new vision for the convergence between Life Sciences and Engineering, for the renewal of teaching and advancement of research, aware of its responsibilities and of the new perspectives that arise for the University in Lisbon.
I hope and trust that this project, which entails the hope of a real change for the University and its Faculties, Research and Teaching Institutes, takes place soon and does not become yet another lost opportunity.
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To all lecturers, researchers, students and employees of CAML and of institutions affiliated to the Faculty, I reiterate my best wishes for the New Year and my conviction that we will overcome constraints and difficulties and hence contribute to the prestige of Medicine, to the development of Biomedical and Health Sciences and to honouring the University and our Mission.
José Fernandes e Fernandes
Diretor da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa
The year of 2012 will certainly be difficult for academic institutions: a reduction in the budget of the UL, blocking of revenue and the substantial increase in the cost of goods, energy, equipment etc. are real situations with a negative impact for the fulfilment of the mission and the management of the Faculty of Medicine.
The reduction of FMUL’s public budget in 2011, the renegotiation of the teaching contracts with the Air Force and the Navy and a decrease in the demand for advanced training led to a 9.4% reduction in the Faculty’s overall revenue and subsequent constraint in the availability of funds for investment. And in 2012 there is a further reduction of 22.5% in the public budget of FMUL and additional blocking of financial resources of € 320.682,00, which occurred after official confirmation of the surplus with regard to the 2011 financial year!
Therefore, it is in the context of this difficult scenario, which requires strict cost control and maximum optimization of our human and material resources to enable us to continue some of the essential development projects that we have been pursuing since 2005, that I propose a brief reflection on action taken so far and on projects for the near future.
The Curricular Reform started in the 2007-2008 academic year, which introduced more integrated interdisciplinary educational models that had a positive impact on the quality and modernity of teaching, the structuring of the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML), which fostered stronger links between the founding institutions that coexist in the same academic campus, the commitment to research and administrative modernization enabling a rigorous and effective management of the Faculty, are real situations which will allow us to continue our work and ensure our support to scientific research as a differentiating feature in teaching and qualification of clinical and academic practice. Enhanced dialogue with students’ representatives and their Association, their cooperation and active involvement in monitoring the Curricular Reform through the Year Councils and Faculty activities have strengthened the soul of the institution and its cohesiveness.
The official creation of the Doctoral programme of CAML, which is an innovative initiative with a significant number of enrolled students, has led to the higher involvement of HSM - CHLN clinical groups in biomedical and clinical research projects, and attests the advancement of scientific research and academic renewal, aiming at maintaining the leading position of CAML institutions as a whole in scientific publications referenced in the Web of Knowledge.
The Faculty has always cooperated actively and with loyalty with the UL in administrative reorganization and in implementing the Strategic Areas defined in the new statutes of the UL, and we have publicly shown our support and institutional solidarity to the proposed merger between the two universities, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for progress and renewal to which FMUL is deeply committed.
The administrative modernization undertaken over the past years has created a core dynamic and innovative working group, and has led to increased efficacy in everyday management and planning, which is indispensable in this difficult period of financial constraint. It has also allowed FMUL to significantly contribute to the restructuring of the shared services of the UL (SPUL).
In addition to financial restraint and the optimization of human and material resources, the current scenario demands new measures to promote the visibility and recognition of the FMUL as an exemplary institution in the provision of training in Medicine, Biomedical and Health Sciences and in scientific research, which also contribute to increasing the Faculty’s own revenue.
It is a challenge and an opportunity, to which I appeal to the commitment of everyone.
In accordance with the general guidelines of the Rector’s Office for the UL, all new contracts in the administrative sector and teaching appointments have been suspended. However, the strict management of human resources that has been conducted has enabled the opening of two Full Professor posts in the sector of Physiological Sciences and of new Associate Professor posts, in addition to maintaining and strengthening new ambulatory and hospital health units so as to ensure clinical diversity and acceptable teaching/student ratios in clinical teaching. I should mention the new association protocol agreed between the new hospital in Loures and the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML), which will minimize the impact of the departure of some lecturers from the Faculty and will enable them to pursue their teaching careers, and which will create a new educational offer in the clinical areas. The number of students admitted to the Faculty has stabilized and I hope that, in the near future, rigour and objectivity in the policy of access to medical schools, which is decided by the Ministry of Education, will prevail.
We need to ensure the highest pedagogical return in the Institutes and University Clinics and the quality and effectiveness of the education provided.
In what concerns the administrative sector, the implementation of the administrative units is underway in order to bring together resources and better integration of available technical and administrative skills, thereby providing better service to students and lecturers.
The containment policy imposes financial accounting of all actual maintenance costs and the feasibility of all available areas and services, and this will require greater precision when drafting research projects, taking into account the foreseeable need to increase institutional overheads that will enable the Faculty to guarantee the provision of essential services for the proper functioning of the facilities and the support of new projects, such as the vivarium and the bio-bank, among others, which are vital to the advancement of scientific research. The Faculty cannot, and should not, reduce its commitment and support to scientific research, to the progress of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), the Associate Laboratory and the founding institution of CAML and to the development of new projects that promote scientific differentiation and contribute to the integration of our Academic Medical Centre in the first league of European medical institutions.
It is a necessity and a priority.
The construction of the new building on this campus derives from the programme-contract signed with the government in the late 1990s and the bestowing of the Câmara Pestana Institute to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the UNL. The funding is secured by specific PIDDAC funds allocated to the UL for that purpose and attract no direct charges for FMUL. It is an opportunity that could not have been rejected – it was, unfortunately, delayed – and it is a short and medium-term strategic investment for the expansion of clinical and translational research. It will enhance the intervention capacity of the Academic Centre in new research and training areas, namely through the creation of the Bioimaging Centre, the Simulation Centre, the clinical research unit for the coordination of clinical trials to be carried out within CAML institutions, of the Cardiovascular Centre and it will act as a hub to the centre of convergence of bio sciences with engineering in the context of our cooperation with the Instituto Superior Técnico and of the new institution resulting from the merger of the UL with the Technical University of Lisbon. It will also provide structural means for the development of advanced training in areas of interest in which the participation of CAML institutions is a guarantee of scientific quality and educational rigour.
In fact, advanced training must be a priority for the Faculty and the CAML. Our experience has been positive and it has extended the Faculty’s commitment to postgraduate training and continuing education. However, we need to reformulate some projects and make them more competitive in the context of educational provision in the city, come up with some areas that meet educational needs and foster active demand and, thanks to the quality of our involvement, thus contribute to the scientific and professional development of Medicine and Biomedical and Health Sciences.
This is a challenge to which I renew my appeal for the wider engagement of the academic, clinical and researcher leaderships that are part of CAML. I believe it is vital to introduce new training programmes, particularly of a multidisciplinary nature where out academic and clinical skills are effective added value in terms of training provision, as well specialized sectors of clinical performance and biosciences. The new professional Master Degrees, such as the one in Cardiovascular Intervention and the new proposed master in Nutrition offered jointly with the Escola de Tecnologias da Saúde, the new Master in Biomedical Technologies in cooperation with IST aimed at those with training needs in Bio Engineering applied to Medicine and Biology, and the Master in Oncobiology offered by the CAML, constitute an opportunity for the scientific affirmation of the Faculty of Medicine, which is paramount to promote and strengthen our educational provision in the Master Degree Programmes that have brought prestige to our Medical School.
It was also to this effect that the Faculty established the Calouste Gulbenkian Chair with the funds and support of the Gulbenkian Foundation, which initially will focus on intervention in Palliative and Continuing Care, thus providing a new élan to an innovative project of the Faculty which has met with academic recognition and demand.
Indeed, the progressive structuring of the CAML will offer new opportunities for advanced training programmes involving the HSM–CHLN for all health professionals working in this academic campus, ranging from postgraduate courses to new master degrees that is paramount to create, and to the consolidation of CAML ‘s new doctoral programme in order to ensure a leading role for the Faculty and the Academic Centre in this sector too.
I would like to reiterate the commitment, support and collaboration of FMUL in the development of the HSM-CHLN in this difficult context of financial restrictions, and in the restructuring of the hospital network in the city and in the region. Given its nature, the HSM - CHLN is a clinical and academic institution of reference with unmatched ability to offer differentiated and complementary services, devoted to areas of great clinical and therapeutical complexity which require the convergence of the diverse skills available at this great hospital. HSM–CHLN is a vital part of the Academic Centre, it is its heart and an essential foundation for modern and quality under and postgraduate education in Medicine, Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as for practical training in areas such as Nursing, Health Technologies and others.
I also reaffirm the commitment of the Faculty and of CAML to the advancement of a policy of Institutional Affiliation to other Hospitals and Health Centres that must be strengthened despite the present constraints, in order to provide more educational opportunities for our students and create opportunities for research and innovation of mutual interest.
The situations and projects I have mentioned must mobilize our capacity for action and help us, on an individual and collective basis, strengthen our courage and decision to overcome the difficulties of the Present and not relinquish our responsibility towards the Future.
The proposed merger of the two universities of Lisbon, the Classical and the Technical, is a major challenge and a unique opportunity to academically assert ourselves in the city, in the country, and internationally. The Faculty of Medicine, as part of the Academic Medical Centre, is deeply committed to that project and ready to participate in a creative way in the new vision for the convergence between Life Sciences and Engineering, for the renewal of teaching and advancement of research, aware of its responsibilities and of the new perspectives that arise for the University in Lisbon.
I hope and trust that this project, which entails the hope of a real change for the University and its Faculties, Research and Teaching Institutes, takes place soon and does not become yet another lost opportunity.
To all lecturers, researchers, students and employees of CAML and of institutions affiliated to the Faculty, I reiterate my best wishes for the New Year and my conviction that we will overcome constraints and difficulties and hence contribute to the prestige of Medicine, to the development of Biomedical and Health Sciences and to honouring the University and our Mission.
José Fernandes e Fernandes
