The OECD Review of Portugal’s higher education, research and innovation system is the result of the joint endeavour by the OECD Directorates for Education and Skills and for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). The review was requested by the Ministry for Science, Technology and Higher Education (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, MCTES), conducted under the auspices of the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP) and the Education Policy Committee (EDPC).

Portugal aims to ensure that its higher education and public research system contributes to the growth of a more innovative and productive economy. Progress towards this goal, achieved through growing investment and research performance, was halted by the global recession. As a consequence of the 2011-14 Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal, sharp reductions were made to public investments in knowledge and innovation. Private investment fell as well. With the resumption of sustained economic growth, Portugal has set its sights on further development of the nation’s higher education, research and innovation system as a catalyst for economic growth and social inclusion. Further public investment in higher education, research, and innovation can be most effectively used with attention to the following challenges:

Portugal aims to develop a more innovative and productive economy, and to ensure that the benefits of these developments are widely distributed across society and the regions of Portugal. This vision is reflected in a range of national documents including the Government Programme of the 21st Constitutional Government, 2015-2019 (Programa do XXI Governo Constitucional – 2015-2019). Key aspects of this vision rely upon investment in higher education, research and innovation to achieve two main goals:

This chapter discusses the underlying economic and legal conditions in Portugal that shape its higher education, research and innovation system – its network of institutions and policies created by government that aim to develop advanced skills and knowledge, and link them to firms and communities. It starts with a brief discussion of recent macroeconomic developments, looking at factors such as growth dynamics, productivity and industrial structure, outlining the country’s major economic challenges. In addition, this chapter presents an overview of the structure and performance of the Portuguese Higher Education Research and Innovation (HERI) system in terms of funding and human resources and reviews its outputs in terms of participation, attainment and returns. It then explores the inputs of the research and innovation system and reviews its performance, notably in terms of academic impact and innovation indicators. The chapter focuses particularly on recent evolutions, highlighting progress and identifying bottlenecks.

Following Portugal’s accession to the European Economic Community in 1986, essential governance functions of the HERI system were formalised and strengthened. However, Portugal system is still characterised by a crowded and fragmented strategic policy framework. No single HERI strategy and little horizontal co-ordination mechanisms within government help guide public investment in research and innovation activities and ensure the effectiveness and efficiency necessary to achieve the country’s high ambitions in this policy domain. Moreover, funding allocation processes at agency level result in the dispersion of research resources and limit the alignment of the higher education, research, and innovation system to national development goals.

Portugal has a diverse system of higher education with a mix of public and private institutions, and university and polytechnic institutions. The legal framework of higher education has been re-oriented with the aim of providing wider scope for institutional autonomy and innovation, while reserving a steering role for the government. In practice, however, the nation’s public higher education institutions have overlapping and weakly differentiated missions that are insufficiently aligned to national and regional needs. Institutional autonomy and responsibility have expanded, but legal provisions governing public sector employment, public procurement and financial management limit the ability of institutions to plan and manage their operations efficiently and effectively. Key instruments of government steering most especially institutional funding do not encourage higher education institutions to identify and pursue their distinctive strengths, leading to duplication of effort and missed opportunities for collaboration. This chapter examines these challenges, and presents policy options to address them.

This chapter examines how Portugal might further widen access to higher education. It finds that that higher education programmes and their modes of provision are not sufficiently differentiated or flexible to meet the needs of all students, especially mature learners. Pathways that permit students to move from secondary to higher education are not yet adapted to the needs, interests and learning experiences of students enrolled in secondary professional education, limiting the continued widening and social diversification of higher education access. Student support – financial, academic, and social – is less developed than best practice found across the OECD, and adversely affects both entry into and success in higher education.

In recent years, Portugal has greatly increased its capacity to train high-level subject specialists, researchers and academics through expanding doctoral training. However, as the number of doctoral graduates has increased, questions have arisen about the ability of the Portuguese economy to offer suitable employment opportunities for larger numbers of highly trained individuals and the relevance of the doctoral programmes provided in the nation’s universities. This chapter examines developments in the supply of doctoral training in Portugal and evidence on the destinations of doctorate holders in the country. It suggests that public investment in doctoral training can be better targeted, the quality of doctoral programmes can be improved and that there is a need to ensure the Portuguese economy makes better use of the high-level skills of doctoral graduates to support national development.

Academic staff are the backbone of the higher education and public research systems across the world. This chapter explores the development of the academic profession in Portugal and the challenges faced by current and aspiring academics. Academic staff in Portugal’s universities, polytechnics and research centres are better qualified than ever before. However, openings for permanent academic positions are scarce and many junior academics work in comparatively precarious post-doctorate positions with limited opportunities for career progression. Systems within institutions for evaluating and rewarding good performance by staff are underdeveloped and rigid employment rules make it harder for individuals to develop specialised professional profiles. While the Portuguese government has taken steps to address some of these issues, this chapter argues that sustained efforts are required to create conditions where academic staff can fully exploit their skills for the good of their institutions and the country at large.

Although Portugal has significantly increased its innovation capacity since it joined the European Union, the innovation output of Portuguese businesses have remained at a low level in international comparison, partly due to the dominance of SMEs and the weight of traditional sectors in the economy. Strong efforts have been dedicated to the support of research-based innovation and the upgrading of low-tech small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The government has progressively created a diversified system of intermediary organisations to support SMEs upgrade their innovation capacity and collaborate with academia. They fulfil a wide range of business knowledge transfer and service needs, but most of these organisations have, until recently, operated with fragile business models without systematic public support, which has hindered their ability to fulfil their mission.

The table below summarises how the characteristics of successful systems relate to the six aspects of the system.