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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on June 15th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili and approved the draft Decree-Law approving the legal regime of higher education institutions, presented by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture, Longuinhos dos Santos. This draft Decree-Law revises several aspects of the current Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJEES – Portuguese acronym), established by Decree-Law No. 8/2010, of May 19th. Among the amendments introduced, of particular note is the concrete application of the legal regime for the national standard curriculum for higher education, which came into force in Timor-Leste through Decree-Law No. 3/2022 of December 12th, and the consolidation of the binary concept of the higher education system. Furthermore, norms were introduced regarding student associations, former students, and support for students in their integration into working life and the figure of the student ombudsman, as well as rules on the merger, division or transfer of private higher education institutions, on the recognition of the public interest of higher education institutions and the supervision and inspection of higher education institutions.
The Council of Ministers also approved the draft Law Proposal, presented by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, which proceeds with the second renewal of the exceptional and temporary health surveillance measures in response to the COVID-19 disease pandemic, extending the validity of article 3 of Law 24/2021, of November 19th. With this amendment, the exceptional measures are extended for 120 days.
Lastly, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia, gave a presentation on the Process and Roadmap for teacher recruitment. Data were presented on the number of existing teachers and the recruitment forecast for the short term. END