Abstract:

The structure of higher education in Portugal has been the subject of scientific study in several papers in recent years. The Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES - Law 62/2007 of September 10), established the model of organization and management of Higher Education Institutions, which implemented several changes and clarified the margin of autonomy of the institutions so that in terms of the law, adopt “the model of institutional organization and management that they deem most appropriate for carrying out their mission, as well as the specificity of the context in which they operate”. Currently in Portugal there is a new framework to demonstrate the evolution of Higher Education in Portugal, in the European context, and mainly based on the growing demand for better articulation of policies and strategies for cohesion and competitiveness, in order to guarantee the effective process of European convergence by 2030 in higher education (Heitor, 2019).

The aim of this paper is to highlight the emerging trends of a changing educational system according to the student´s opinion correlated with public policies. Higher education in Portugal is organized in a binary system that integrates university and polytechnic education and is taught in public and private institutions, with private higher education establishments obtaining prior public interest recognition from the Government.

Regarding methodology, this paper is based on secondary sources regarding the characterization of the higher education system in Portugal such as official sites on the agency, ministry of higher education and science (DGS), scientific papers and literature review. As for primary scientific sources, this paper has considered a sample of 1190 students that answered an online inquiry about expectations and trends in higher education. Furthermore, a focus group of 17 higher education teachers and 17 students was created from different scientific areas, who discussed the final results (database) of the inquiry results in two online meetings on Zoom in October 2023.

The main conclusions, through the New Public Management (Ball (2007), shows a lack of accountability in relation to education that tends to declare that this is no longer one of the main functions, as considered public good, that is, it must be allocated to the educational institutions themselves and individually, thus promoting their autonomy, based on market methods, and in a competitive manner. In this sense, the students have classified and hierarchized the new trends in higher education according with variables such as market approach; funding; quality system; facilities/campus; reputation; variety of academic offer; university size/dimension; study plans; scientific research; employability and faculty. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon higher education institutions to make use of the prospective thinking capacity that they hold, to design solutions for existing problems, modernizing higher education, and adapting to the new realities and needs that come from the value of knowledge, which somehow, they can contradict the trends of immediacy of formations (Veiga & Neave, 2015).

Keywords:

Higher Education, Universities, Students, Emerging Trends, Portugal.