Abstract:

Short-cycle higher education has gained relevance in Portugal as a pathway for qualification, further study and territorial development. In the fields of design and digital media, however, this relevance is not always clearly visible in official statistics, partly because programmes are spread across different fields of education and training and partly because institutions use varied course titles. This paper presents an exploratory mapping of design and digital media vocational and technical higher education courses in Portugal (Cursos Técnicos Superiores Profissionais, CTeSP), combining three analytical dimensions: their place within short-cycle higher education, their relationship with pathways coming from vocational upper secondary education, and their territorial distribution in relation to regional skills needs. Drawing on national and European official sources, namely DGEEC, RAIDES, Eurydice and the OECD, the study brings together evidence on enrolments, graduates, progression to further study, student mobility and the policy framing of short-cycle provision. The central argument is that programmes in these fields should not be read only as a direct response to immediate labour-market demand. They should also be understood as articulation devices linking vocational secondary education, polytechnic higher education, local creative economies and progression to bachelor’s degrees. From this perspective, the paper discusses two key tensions: the capacity of these programmes to widen participation and create routes of continuity, and the effects of territorial concentration, unequal mobility, and the still-fragile social valuation of short, vocationally oriented pathways. Rather than focusing only on direct employability, the paper argues for analysing these programmes as intermediate qualification structures with implications for territorial cohesion, higher education diversification and the development of regional ecosystems in design, audiovisual production and digital media. The paper contributes a sharper framework for discussing short-cycle provision in creative and technological fields and offers a basis for future research, curriculum design and regional planning.

Keywords:

Short-cycle higher education, Vocational higher education, Design and digital media education, Regional development, Higher education access.