Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Medicine are the areas chosen by the selected students who met with the Portuguese ambassador in Luanda, Pedro Pessoa and Costa, to prepare for the trip to Portugal and integration into the future academic life.
According to the diplomat, the relationship between Portugal and Angola "goes through several areas" and this program is a sign of the importance that Portugal attaches to Angola's future, namely with regard to qualified resources.
It also reveals, he added, that the Portuguese higher education system has reached a "degree of excellence" and continues to be attractive to foreign students. The scholarship holders will attend universities in Lisbon, Coimbra, Covilhã, Porto and Braga.
"Young people should seize this opportunity in the best way, it is an opportunity for the present", but it also offers "tools" for their future, urged the ambassador.
However, enthusiastic about the departure, the students assume concern for the future in Angola, mainly due to unemployment, which took thousands of young people to the streets on Wednesday for an attempted demonstration that was suppressed by the police and ended with injured and one dead.
Raul Correia Matamba, who is going to study mechanical engineering at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, chose Portugal "for the language and the quality of teaching" and considered that young people have reasons to be concerned about their future.
"It is understandable, the situation is not easy", commented Matamba, appealing, however, to "serenity". "In times of turbulence, it is necessary to use our heads, we are young, we are the future, if we go through violence we will not have a future, it is not only good for the image of young people but also for the country", stressed the student.
Declaring himself "in favor of peaceful demonstrations", Raul Matamba stated that the violence came from the police: "The young people did not go to the streets for the purpose of attacking anyone, they were for the purpose of demonstrating".
Nádia Gonçalves, 18 years old, is preparing to enter the Mechanical Engineering course at Instituto Superior Técnico, a "renowned" institution. He likes Portuguese culture which "does not differ much from Angolan" and said he was "very well received" on previous visits to Portugal.
The young woman aspires, after academic training, to "help develop technology and industry" in Angola, but admitted to fearing unemployment. "Employment was already difficult and with the pandemic it became worse and worse. Young people in Angola finish their courses and are unable to enter the world of work, which is something that is necessary to live, but how will they support the family?" he asked.
On Wednesday's events he considered the outcome "very worrying". "There were deaths, many people were injured, it is something that makes me very worried," he said.
The scholarship program in Portugal, granted by Camões in conjunction with the Angolan National Scholarship Management Institute, includes a contingent of 26 scholarships (21 for undergraduate, three for master's and two for doctorate).
