"We say it is the 'Generation 30', after the 'Generation to the grind', because it is a generation in which, since 2011, graduates have lost 30% of their purchasing power. We left our parents' house at the age of 30, and Therefore, according to data from the Emigration Observatory, 30% of young Portuguese emigrated", the president of the Porto Academic Federation (FAP), Francisco Porto Fernandes, told Lusa.

Today, as part of National Student Day, which is celebrated on Sunday, around 200 students from the Porto academy descended from Trindade to Aliados in silence, with only the sound of suitcases being audible to Praça General Humberto Delgado.

Identifying "three main problems" of young university students, Francisco Porto Fernandes considers, firstly, that there is a "devaluation of graduates", since "the salary the day after higher education is not even enough to pay the rent for a T1".

There are also problems with student accommodation, as "the previous Government promised 18 thousand beds and only delivered on 474", asking the president of the FAP for the new Government to create "an emergency plan" for this issue.

"The third problem is that of mental health. In survey after survey, we have dramatic data on the decline in the psychological well-being of students, and concrete actions are needed", which do not involve "just injecting money into institutions", considered Porto Fernandes .

The student leader appealed for coherence from those responsible who talk about improving mental health, but students continue to be faced with "exam periods with three and four exams in the same week" or a "30-hour workload per week".

For Francisco Porto Fernandes, the three themes end up forming one: "This is just one theme. It's basically the theme of valuing higher education and valuing the future of Portugal".

"We are here today for ourselves, students, but also for the country. We, students, don't want to leave our family or our friends. But the country also cannot waste billions of euros training for export", he considered.

"A country that does not invest in education, that despises education, is a country that is self-destructing in the medium term. For all reasons: for the reason of social mobility, of regardless of where someone is born, dreaming of a better future , but also from the perspective of the country as a collective", he stressed.