Governance of Portuguese Universities Within European Higher Education: Nova University Lisbon Experience

Background

More than ten years have passed since the publication of a new national legislative HE framework in Portugal. This legislative package included not only a new legal regime of autonomy and governance for HEIs, but also the application of the Bologna Process nationwide, with the consequence of full inclusion and recognition of Portuguese HE degrees in the European Higher Education Area (EHA), while establishing, at the same time, the National Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES). In addition, academic careers were also reviewed, allowing for international recruitment in an attempt to reduce the existent high levels of endogamy.

Two years before, in 2005, as a background to the publication of the legislative package, the Portuguese Government requested the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to perform a global analysis and evaluation of the HE system based on the following reference terms: (i) the role of HE in stimulating students to acquire knowledge in the context of diversified environments such as those that occur in the knowledge society, including lifelong learning, in the globalization era. At the national level the need was pointed out for increased contributions to social cohesion and equity, while maintaining the cultural identity of the country; (ii) a focus on strategic management procedures and the related specific structures in the development of teaching and learning, research and development, investment, finance and internationalization.