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Portugal from Re.ViCa: Difference between revisions
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Universidade do Porto | '''Universidade do Porto''' | ||
The University of Porto (UP) is a traditional University created in 1911 and is currently the largest in | The University of Porto (UP) is a traditional University created in 1911 and is currently the largest in | ||
Portugal. Although eLearning was considered very important for the modernization of UP, the process | Portugal. Although eLearning was considered very important for the modernization of UP, the process | ||
Revision as of 14:47, 11 December 2008
Partners situated in Portugal:
- Prof. Vitor Rocio, from the - Open University of Portugal is a member of Re.ViCa's International Advisory Committee.
Portugal in a nutshell
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.
Portuguese education policy
The education system may be defined as the means and resources whereby the right to education is effectively enjoyed. It consists of a number of organised structures and activities, promoted and administered by a variety of institutions and other bodies (public and private organisations and co-operatives).
The main principles governing the work of the education system reflect the constitutional right to education and the State’s duty to promote democracy in education, as the guarantor of equality of opportunity in terms of both access to education and academic success and of the other conditions required to ensure that education contributes to individual personal development, to social progress and to democratic participation in public life. Respect for the freedom to learn and to teach is guaranteed, and the State may not take it on itself to institute educational or cultural programmes which conform to any particular philosophical, aesthetic, political, ideological or religious systems of belief.
The Basic Educational Law, approved by the Assembly of the Republic in 1986 (Law no. 46/86, of 14 October, subsequently amended in respect of certain clauses by Law no. 115/97, of 19 September) establishes the basic framework for organising and structuring the work of the current education system. This law established minimum schooling of nine years, with a minimum school leaving age of 15.
source: [1]
Portuguese education system
Higher education
The higher education system in Portugal is binary, comprising university institutions and polytechnic institutions, which can be public or private. There are more than 150 higher education institutions. The public sector includes 14 universities and a nonintegrated university institution; 15 polytechnics and a number of polytechnic schools integrated in universities; 9 non-integrated nursing schools; 4 university-level military schools; and 5 polytechnic military schools. The private sector includes 34 university level institutions and no less than 66 polytechnics. The private sector also includes a Catholic university1. The university and polytechnic subsystems are mainly differentiated by their formative role in research, as is seen, for example, also in Denmark and the Netherlands. The polytechnics are vocationally or professionally oriented and do not carry out fundamental research as the universities do. Only applied research is conducted at the polytechnics.
Source: [[2]] More information [[3]]
Universities in Portugal
The university system has a strong theoretical basis and is highly research-oriented; Degrees in some fields such as medicine, law, natural sciences, economics, psychology or veterinary are university. Other fields like engineering, management, education, agriculture, sports, or humanities are found both in university and polytechnic systems.Many universities are usually organized by Faculty (Faculdade).
The university system, which is the oldest, has its origins in the 13th century. It is composed of thirteen public universities, one public university institute, a public open university, and several private universities and university institutes.
The oldest university is the University of Coimbra founded in 1290, and the biggest by number of enrolled students is the University of Porto with about 28,000 students. The Catholic University of Portugal, the oldest non-state-run university (concordatary status), was instituted by decree of the Holy See and is recognized by the State of Portugal since 1971.
University education can lead to the following degrees: bacharelato (first degree course, normally 3 years’ duration), licenciatura (normally 4 years’ duration), masters’ degrees and doctorates.
Polytechnics in Portugal
The non-university system provides a more practical training and is profession-oriented. Nursing, preschool education, accounting technician, or health care technician degrees, are only offered in the polytechnic system. Institute (Instituto) and School (Escola) are also common designations for autonomous units of Portuguese higher learning institutions, and are always used in the polytechnical system, but also in several universities.
The polytechnic system, that began offering higher education in the 1980s after the former industrial and commercial schools were converted into engineering and administration higher education schools (so its origins could be traced back to some earlier vocational education schools of the 19th century).[2] It is composed of fifteen state-run polytechnic institutes, public and private non-integrated polytechnic institutions, and other similar institutions.
Polytechnic education can lead to a bachalerato or a licenciatura.
Higher education reform
The Bologna Process
Portugal, like other European States, has conducted educational policies and reforms to accomplish these objectives. This include the reorganization of both university and polytechnic subsystems and the implementation of extensive legal and curricular changes. Since its field application in 2006 is has being widely contested by students (many lost an academic year with the change), and several universities had disrepute the concept by introducing integrated master degrees in several courses.
Administration and finance
The budget of public institutions, both universities and polytechnics, comes mainly from the national budget. The public funds allocated are split into current expenditure and investment.(Eurydice, 2000)Until 2003, the education component of the higher education institutions budget was allocated from the Ministry of Education while the research component was allocated from the Ministry for Science and Technology. Since 2003 a single Ministry – Ministry for Science and Higher Education (later Ministry for Science, Innovation and Higher Education and at present Ministry for Science, Technology and Higher Education) – is responsible for both teaching and research activities. This creates the opportunity to try to integrate strategies and define goals more clearly (Rosa, Veiga and Amaral, 2003). In Portugal public higher education institutions (HEI’s) are almost totally financed by the State. Private institutions do not receive any permanent direct support from the State. However, the State may partly finance their activities through student’s grants, training of academic staff, incentives to investment, support to research projects, merit scholarship for students and support to loan systems or other types of support included in contracts (as established in article 10, point 1 of Law no 1/2003) (Teixeira P., Rosa M.J. and Amaral A.,2003). In the late 1970 and early 1980s, investment in higher education, in particular in the new polytechnics, was supported by World Bank loans. Portugal joined the European Community in 1986, benefiting from pre-accession funds and later, structural funds. These funds have been assembled into a special programme for the development of the education system, Programa de desenvolvimento educativo para Portugal (PROPED) in 1990 (Eurydice,2000). The budget financed through the Ministry of Education is mainly dedicated to educational activities, although it supports the salaries of academic staff, which dedicate part of their time to research. The research activities of higher education institutions also receive funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology. These institutions are also financed by their own income from contract work (Eurydice, 2000).
source: [[4]]
Quality assurance
Quality assurance of higher education in Portugal has been based on the Higher Education Evaluation Act 1994. This act was closely developed in cooperation with the Conference of Rectors of Public Universities (CRUP) and forms the backbone of what is widely termed “the contractual model”. The act resulted in the establishment of CNAVES as a national agency for quality assurance of higher education. The act was highly inspired by the Dutch model and retains many characteristics from this, including, above all, placing responsibility for the quality assurance system with an organisation representing the institutions of higher education. The contractual model, which reflects the large extent of institutional representation through the representative entities and evaluation councils, has created a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the quality assurance processes, which would otherwise have been extremely difficult to achieve. The model was fit for purpose at the time of its establishment, but was from the early days also associated with a number of weaknesses, which are analysed in this review. Ten years of CNAVES’s evaluations have, however, also accumulated a number of positive experiences that should be considered carried over into a new quality assurance system.
Source: [[5]]
Portuguese HEIs in the information society
Towards the information society
Information society strategy period
For more information see: Major e-learning initiatives in Portugal.
A "country brief on e-learning in Portugal" of the eUSER project is available at http://euser-eu.org/eUSER_eLearningCountryBrief.asp?CaseID=2251&CaseTitleID=1092&MenuID=117
Virtual Initiatives
Universidade Aberta
http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Aberta_Article.pdf
These institutions were selected as Innovative eLearning Strategies in Higher Education the frame of the InnoUniLearning project: These institution's descriptions were published in:
Universidade de Aveiro The University of Aveiro started its eLearning initiative with an experimental pilot programme in October 1998. The main objectives were to gain experience with web based learning. The target groups were on-campus students. eLearning at the University is aimed towards helping students with learning and encouraging a diversity of pedagogical approaches. In 2004, the University organized the international conference on eLearning ‘eLes04’. The University has several departments that are contributing to ICT enriched education. Each of these departments has a special focus such as: content production and support, teacher training, support on infrastructure and technology, and library services. Besides the university wide services and systems, a number of departments still maintain additional services and systems suitable for their respective environment. To foster internationalization and to gain from the experiences of other HEIs, the University as a whole participates in various projects such as: the Campus Europae, European Consortium of Innovative Universities, and theTuning Educational Structures in Europe. The University has also been identified in 2005 as one of the 11 most advanced universities in terms of implementing the ‘European Credit Transfer System’ (ECTS) for all courses. The University is now extending the use of the ECTS to the life long learning process. Web URL: http://elearning.ua.pt/
Universidade do Minho The University of Minho established the department TecMinho/, which is aimed towards the training of eTeachers and the creation of an e-learning environment at University. TecMinho/ is the continuous training office of the University offering courses on eLearning pedagogy, technology and communication to the University’s teachers. The University as a whole developed a strategy for eLearning. The work of TecMinho/ is carried out parallel with the work of the University’s service department to support informatics learning (SAPIA). SAPIA is responsible for the technological support to teachers in the use of the LMS. Currently, there are a large number of teachers using a platform named EASY and delivering disciplines through a traditional classroom setting and online solution. All courses at the University are blended courses and are based on learning activities rather than on content. The learning design phase of the courses is the most important one were all the activities, together with the applied pedagogical approach, are first designed by the eTeacher (with the support of TecMinho/). The content to the courses are merely support tools for the learners’ activities..
Web URL: http://www.elearning.tecminho.uminho.pt/
Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Instituto de Ensino e Formação a Distância The Universidade Católica was highlighted through the survey results. The collected data indicates an overall commitment of the University in the 4 particular areas of institutional activity relevant to eLearning education: Teachers, Learners, Teaching Methodology and Institution. In January 2003, the University Senate approved the establishment of a new Institute for Distance Learning (IEFD). IEFD is directed predominantly to post-graduate level education and to the pedagogical renewal of the University. The new Institute is deemed complementary and subsidiary in nature regarding the other (traditional) education structures: Schools, Institutes, Regional Centers, and Study Centers. IEFD developed a broad dialogue with the different University units to identify opportunities and priorities. The idea was to help units become aware of opportunities and define their own priorities in ODL programmes. Moreover, IEFD provides the necessary technical and pedagogical support to help realize sectoral priorities.
Web URL: http://www.ucp.pt/site/custom/template/ucptplminisite.asp?sspageid=793&lang=1
Universidade do Porto
The University of Porto (UP) is a traditional University created in 1911 and is currently the largest in
Portugal. Although eLearning was considered very important for the modernization of UP, the process
of introducing eLearning in such a large institution was not easy. By 1999, UP was conscious of the
growing importance of the “New Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT) in education
and a project for Distance Learning called PEDIST was created to support and promote the use of ICT
by teachers and students. From this project it was concluded that the UP schools were in very different
stages of development and most of them lacked a structured approach to ICT. There was also a lack of
technological infrastructures.
In the beginning of 2003, UP started a new project aimed at promoting the use of ICT, and Internet in
particular, in the education process. This project intended to increase the number of courses with an
on-line component by 30 every year and at the same time evaluate the value of eLearning to an
institution such as UP. Since UP is a very fragmented university, it was also intended to involve in this
process not only faculty members from every school, but also to have the support of the school itself.
The second edition of the eLearning project at UP is currently active and following a similar approach
to the first project.
Apart from this project, two other initiatives had a positive contribution to the development of
eLearning at UP. Funding through the National Funding Programme provided the involved schools
with extra multimedia material, such as hardware, software and services contributing in a positive way
to an increase on the quality of the courseware developed. Also, UP encourages and supports teachers
that want to disseminate their work in national and international conferences. To encourage the
application of eLearning at a high level of quality, UP created an internal Excellence Award for
eLearning to recognize those who positively influence the eLearning programme. These two initiatives
were seen to be very important to increase the motivation of the community and reinforce the idea that
eLearning is a priority at UP.
Web URL: http://elearning.fe.up.pt
References
Country Report by OECD: TERTIARY EDUCATION IN PORTUGAL: BACKGROUND REPORT
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/21/17/39710472.pdf
The InnoUniLearning project
Higher Education in Portugal: Cheps
http://www.utwente.nl/cheps/documenten/portugal.pdf
THE PORTUGUESE EDUCATION SYSTEM THE SYSTEM TODAY AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Bureau for European Affairs and International Relations