The higher education system in Portugal has been reformed over recent decades. For many reasons, Portuguese higher education continues to receive attention in the educational political agenda and it seems reasonable to expect this will continue in the coming years.
Higher education (HE) in Portugal is a binary system, organized into universities and polytechnic institutes. From the time of the creation of a binary system in 1973 until today, many things have transpired in Portugal. First, there was the democratic revolution in 1974, and then the real institutionalisation of the binary system in 1977. In 1986, some months after Portugal’s entry into the European Union, the Education Act consolidated the binary system. More recently, the Bologna Process is exercising influence and largely determining the political agenda of HE. Among other things, it is presenting a challenge to the binary system.
This chapter has several objectives. First, we will present some perspective on the Portuguese HE system, explaining how it evolved and developed into the current binary system with the creation of polytechnic institutes. Second, we will provide a picture of the governing structure and organization of polytechnic institutes. Third, we will examine and critically discuss their levels of autonomy. Finally, we will highlight some trends about future developments and challenges for the polytechnic institutes within the environment of the Portuguese HE system.
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Ferreira, J.B., Machado, M.d.L., Santiago, R. (2008). The Polytechnic Higher Education Sector in Portugal. In: Taylor, J.S., Ferreira, J.B., Machado, M.d.L., Santiago, R. (eds) Non-University Higher Education in Europe. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8335-8_9
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