Federal government should announce reorganization of master’s and doctoral scholarships

According to the news of O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, The Lula government (PT) is expected to announce that it will reorganize about 40% of scholarships for postgraduate students in Brazil., however, the postdoctoral fellowship must go through a minor readjustment – the measure should be announced next Thursday (16) at 3pm. Currently, the value of the scholarship is R$1,500 for master’s students and R$2,200 for doctoral students, as in 2013.

With the increase, the government should distribute 2,100 BRL to masters scholarships and 3,300 BRL to doctoral scholarships. and increase compared to newspaper It will take place from March 2023. The information also indicates that the scientific starter scholarship for high school offering R$100 could more than double.

Currently, postdoctoral grants distribute around R$5,000 to each student, but the amount of the reorganization is still unknown. Despite the new value starting to be delivered in March, analysis of the report shows that January and February values ​​will be retroactive to the correction.

The long-awaited reissue

“In those years, due to the complete mismatch between the rising cost of living and the loss of attractiveness of scientific research, leading to a brain drain, reorganization was an absolute necessity. There is still a need to increase the number of scholarships to recognize the social security benefits of scholarship holders until the end of Lula’s term of office and president of the Brazilian Association for the Advancement of Science (SBPC),” Education Minister Renato Janine Ribeiro told Estadão.

The government needs to reallocate the Union’s budget to invest R$1 billion for the reorganization of master’s and doctoral scholarships. It is important to emphasize that only selected scholarship students receive scholarships – currently there are approximately 200,000 scholarship holders at Capes and 77,000 at CNPQ, including students and professors.

Recalibrating graduate scholarships is considered one of the main challenges of Brazilian science, so it is not surprising that the National Association of Graduate Students (ANPG) is demanding a 75% realignment of scholarships. In 2022, Alexander Kellner, director of the UFRJ National Museum, said that science is not a valuable field in Brazil and urgent measures must be taken to offer improvements and prevent Brazilian scientists from seeking opportunities in other countries.