From university to diversity: The making of portuguese higher education

Abstract

Contemporary Portuguese higher education differs radically from what distinguished it four short decades back. It has acquired new dimensions and a new public. In this chapter, the origin and the development of the dual system in Portuguese higher education are explored. The outlines of its different subsystems are set out, and the main evolutionary tendencies of the last few decades analysed. To do this, a dual perspective is used. On one hand, an internal and descriptive look at its institutional structure is combined, on the other, with an outside perspective of the higher education system, looking into the background and the contexts in which it is cited. The chapter starts by identifying the main themes and examines the outcomes achieved during the period of democratic consolidation in Portugal. Subsequently, it singles out and characterises the dimensions which, set against a European backdrop, pinpoint the specificities of Portuguese higher education. The final reflections enclose this discourse, as it is sustained by the empirical evidence available of the themes discussed.