"We do not recognize the Movement of the Angolan Students as a credible entity or to whom we have to give any information or accounts. We are the most important institution of higher education in the country and we do not relate to people who do not have the level to present themselves as inspectors or to whom we have to report," said Arlindo Isabel, spokesperson for the Agostinho Neto University, to Lusa.
According to the responsible, the Movement of Angolan Students "does not have any legitimacy" to question the functioning of the university and "any comparison with these people or association is a mere nonsense that aims to infantilize the university and higher education".
The Agostinho Neto University has available 5310 places for the academic year 2020, 215 more than the previous year, and the registrations that began on January 2 run until Saturday, January 11, 2020.
The Movement of Angolan Students announced on Wednesday that it will proceed with a criminal complaint to the Attorney General's Office against the university for "illegal collection of emoluments" and "lack of accountability".
Arlindo Isabel recalled that on the "subject of enrolment", the university board received the members of the MEA "as normal citizens" in 2019, and it was clarified that the process of enrolment and entrance examinations to the university "is not financed by the General State Budget".
"It is a process self-supported by the fees charged to candidates. On the other hand, the Movement of the Angolan Students or these people have concept difficulties between candidates and UAN students and we are only dealing with candidates at the moment and not with students," he said.
He added: "We think there is a crisis of rationality on the part of these individuals here that does not fit. We are a credible institution and we are not accountable to any street movement like the MEA".
As for the criminal complaint with the Attorney General's Office, the director of the University Office of Scientific Information and Documentation also said that the institution is calm, arguing that the Movement of the Angolan Students "has not received any power of attorney from the parents to represent the candidates".
For applications for the 45 courses given in the institution's nine organic units, the candidate must pay 4000 kwanzas for one option or 6000 kwanzas for two, charges that the MEA considers "illegal due to the absence of a diploma to regulate them".
For Arlindo Isabel, the Movement also has no legitimacy to question the legality of the charges, adding that the members of the Movement "are free citizens and the right to ignorance is a human right".
"And no one can be prosecuted for being ignorant," he said.
