Proposals for new categories in universities and polytechnics

Rectors of Portugal's largest universities will propose this week to the government the creation of categories in polytechnics, similar to what happens in university education, to differentiate institutions based on size, quality of research, and training.

In the document, which Lusa had access to this Monday, the rectors of Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Minho and Iscte propose that "in each subsystem three types of institutions be created that are related to the greater or lesser degree of scope or specialization of their activity in different scientific areas", alongside a division between the university and polytechnic systems, with the former focusing on "advanced training and scientific research" and the latter on "vocational and technical training with a professionally oriented research component".

On the day that the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities and the Coordinating Council of Polytechnic Higher Education Institutes meet with the Ministry of Education to discuss the review of the Legal Framework for Higher Education Institutions (RJIES), the directors of the country's largest public universities believe that this solution will ensure the coexistence of the current binary education system, based on polytechnics and universities .

With this proposal, for the group, universities would have a "greater demand for the integration of human resources, PhDs, teachers and researchers, with full-time dedication" and in the "polytechnic subsystem, the teaching staff must include a certain percentage of specialists with relevant professional activity and experience."

Thus, according to the rectors, the polytechnic subsystem would be divided into Polytechnic Universities (“comprehensive institutions”, Technical Specialization Courses/CTeSP, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, a research unit with very good or excellent and at least five areas of specialization), Polytechnic Institutes (“qualified institutions in a reduced number of areas”, with CTeSP, bachelor's and one master's degrees, a research unit and two areas of specialization) and Polytechnic Schools (“highly specialized institutions in a limited number of areas”, with CTeSP and bachelor's degrees with one area of specialization).

This proposal is inspired by what already exists in universities, with the division between Universities, University Institutes and Higher Education Schools, and contradicts the Government's proposed review.

The current “revision proposal sent by the minister for discussion this week maintains all the negative aspects of the previous versions” and does not consider the separation of the systems, said António de Sousa Pereira, rector of the University of Porto, in a statement.

“The idea that all, absolutely all, higher education institutions (HEIs) will become universities, whether public or private,” regardless of their size, is shocking,” said Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, from Iscte.

For the rectors, the “new ambition for the organization of the system based on the binary model must focus on promoting and improving the conditions for the development of research activities in university and polytechnic Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), without prejudice to the fulfillment of their other missions of teaching and transferring and valuing knowledge, and qualifying the territorial contexts in which they are located”.

The rectors take stock of the discussion on the RJIES review and conclude that “enormous diversity and differentiation persists within the system,” because “ institutions are not all the same , neither in size, nor in resources, nor in training offerings, nor in the degree of specialization, nor in research activities.”

According to Rui Vieira de Castro, from the University of Minho, "there is a diversity inherent to the system that is not being considered as it should be", while the rector of the University of Lisbon, Luís Ferreira, instead of eliminating diversity, the "approach should be one of incremental evolution, allowing all HEIs to define their mission, objectives and quality improvement strategies autonomously and independently".

In turn, for the rector of Coimbra, Amílcar Falcão, “the binary system and the types of institutions within each subsystem must allow each HEI a path to affirm its specificity and identity, around, for example, specialization in subsets of its own scientific areas or certain levels of education”.

If "university institutions are not all the same, and institutional diversity must be safeguarded," "polytechnic institutions, even those that have achieved high levels of size, quality and research development, are not the same as universities," because "they have sought to establish their specificity and identity around their own technological and scientific areas, connecting with the territorial contexts in which they operate," the rectors state in the document.

For the group, “institutional indifference carries a high risk of devaluing the binary system, that is, of not recognizing, for example, that the country needs institutions that respond to the various challenges it faces today, whether technological and vocational training or initial training, the provision of services or the production of knowledge and research.”

And they compare the path of merging polytechnics with universities with the end of commercial schools, transforming them into high schools, 40 years ago, creating a "difficulty still felt today in the affirmation of vocational education in secondary education, with the resulting losses for young people and for the country's development needs."

"Ignoring diversity, treating all institutions equally, giving them all the same status, will make the higher education system poorer, more confusing, and more opaque; it will make it much more difficult to distinguish and encourage quality, rigor, and demand," they warn.

Furthermore, they warn, there is time for institutional transformation: "the polytechnic universities that can now be created need time to develop their strategy and consolidate their position in the specific field of research."