The student estate

Abstract

From the students' perspective, what has changed in higher education in Portugal over the 35 years since 25 April 1974? Everything. There are 6.5 times more students in higher education than in 1974, with more varied socioeconomic backgrounds, from all regions of the country, with more varied ages and lifestyles. Women are in the majority, but the tendency is towards a balance between the sexes. Despite greater concentration around Lisbon and Porto, there are students all over the country. One can to attend higher education coursed in practically all cities, even some of the smaller ones where some institutions maintain branch campuses. Portuguese students share some characteristics with their European counterparts since higher education systems have grown more similar, particularly in Europe, where they have become more uniform. Yet as in some other countries, massification does not necessarily mean democratisation, universal access, or even homogenisation. Massification brought with it a new form of stratification, which emerged first among higher education institutions and then among the students themselves, and creating new élites.