The "Legislature Contract" between the government and public higher education institutions, for the period 2020-2023, will be signed on Friday at the prime minister's official residence in Lisbon.

One of the goals is the hiring of 5,000 doctoral researchers (to be added to the 5,166 since 2017), including 1,500 for career entry (through regular competitions) and 500 for an indefinite period - the latter to be done by associated laboratories (scientific institutions with their status).

A thousand PhD researchers will be hired through individual annual competitions and 800 through biannual institutional competitions, to be launched by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the main entity that subsidises scientific research in Portugal.

The remaining contracts will be carried out in association with research projects (200) or by research units (aggregated or not with universities and polytechnics, 400), by collaborative laboratories (which also have their status, 100) and by companies (500).

The contracts will be concluded under the programme to stimulate scientific employment by the end of 2023, notably through structural funds and European funds.

The application of the legislation to stimulate scientific employment, which requires the recruitment of doctoral researchers for up to six years, with the possibility of entering the career, was marked, during the previous parliamentary term, by complaints from scientists, who invoked delays in competitions and resistance from universities to hire.

The higher education institutions claimed, in turn, lack of funds to hire researchers, despite the existence of programme contracts financed by FCT.

The previous agreement between the government and universities and polytechnics was signed in July 2016 and was in force until 2020.

The institutions later accused the socialist executive of failing to meet commitments, particularly in terms of funding.