Brussels, 04/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Students Union (ESU) has denounced the fact that thousands of students in Portugal are being forced to drop out of the education system for economic reasons. Since September 2011, more than 5,000 students have left higher education in Portugal, a situation that has deteriorated following harsh cuts in the education budget and the withdrawal of social assistance to students from poor backgrounds. Allan Päll, Chairperson of the European Students' Union, said: “We strongly disagree with the political measures related to higher education and cuts in social support to students in Portugal. This especially endangers those that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Investment into higher education should be seen as a way out of the crisis in the longer term.” The ESU explains that student support has been facing unacceptable budget cuts in the Portuguese higher education system since 2009 but this year has been the worst because of the tremendous reduction imposed by the austerity measures and economic crisis. In Portugal, tuition fees are one the highest in all Europe and family contributions for the higher education system are already the highest in Europe in terms of percentage of the total expenditure in higher education. According to the ESU, social support systems play a key role in assuring that every single student has the same opportunity to get into and attend higher education and scrapping them leads to a waste of talent crucial to economic growth. According to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, Portugal's unemployment rate is now 13.6%, making the rate one of the highest in the eurozone and also the fastest growing. Unemployment among young jobseekers is even higher, around 2%. Päll concluded: “We recognise that Portugal is under an economic crisis and forced to reduce its deficit. But this is also an opportunity to get back to the fundamentals of the economic development and to look forward to the long-term. As a European country, Portugal needs to focus on education and innovation as the key factors to have a sustainable development in the future.” (IL/transl.fl)