01 - Portugal - Historical overview
The first Portuguese university was founded by royal decree in 1290, issued by King Dinis, although
there had been two large mediaeval-style religious schools in Coimbra and Alcobaça since the twelfth
century.
There are some important phases in the history of the university in Portugal.
From the twelfth to the fifteenth century, the university was essentially a guild supported by the main
social and economic structures of the time: the Church and royal, noble or municipal patronage. It was
a Corporate Guild of Masters and Scholars who met in groups regularly to study the major and minor
disciplines.
From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, the humanist style University coincided with the advent of
the Renaissance, the first printing press overseas expansion and the mastering of empirical
knowledge. Its interest in natural phenomena substantially increased as a result of information gleaned
from experimental research and no longer from mere scholastic, philosophical or theological
speculation based on Greek and Latin tradition. New areas of study were introduced, such as
Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Medicine and Chemistry. This was a time when power was
centralised in the monarch who, in controlling political power, also tried to control, or at least, pay close
attention to knowledge.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the state university was introduced. It was controlled by the
State and was seen as a public service. In 1772, the Marquês de Pombal ordered the reform of the
universities. The approach to teaching was changed; many foreign teachers came to Portugal, while
many Portuguese teachers went to teach abroad. In 1837, in the reign of Queen Mary, polytechnic
colleges were created in Lisbon and Porto and as well as medical schools in the same cities.
In the first half of the twentieth century, although the university was by this time more closely linked to
economic and social life, and more areas addressed specialisation and research to meet the demands
of industrialisation, little was invested in developing and expanding higher education. In the nineteen
sixties there were still only four universities in Portugal: the Lisbon Technical and Classical
Universities, and the Oporto and Coimbra Universities, consisting of several different colleges,
institutes or faculties.
However, entrance to university became more democratic, driven by the pressing needs of economic,
cultural and social development. The seventies saw a start to considerable growth in the Portuguese
higher education system. Reform in 1973 was responsible for creating schools of higher education
outside the traditional teaching centres, which contributed both to the decentralisation of this level of
education and to the development of the regions where these new schools were opened. At the start of
the seventies, 42 state and 37 private schools of higher education were operating.
From 1978 onwards, higher education in Portugal has been structured along binary lines, with ensino
universitário and ensino politécnico (Law No. 61/78, 28th of July).
At the close of 1979, what until then had been known as short duration higher education, became
known as ensino superior politécnico in the national system of higher education, and polytechnic
colleges were set up to co-exist with the universities. The autonomy of the universities was defined in
1988 in the Law No. 108, 24th of September and that of the ensino superior politécnico is laid down in
Law No. 54, of 5th September.
Between the second half of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties, this growth exceeded 50% in
both state and private and co-operative teaching. By the early nineties there were 152 state and 81
private higher education establishments.
In 2000, the Law No. 26, 23rd of August, approved the organisation and running of higher education.
This law was repealed by Law No. 1/03, 6th of January, which established the legal basis for the
development and quality of higher education.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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