Portugal

image/svg+xml Map of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Map of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) A blank map of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and countries fully surrounded by the EHEA. Every country has an id which is its ISO-3116-1-ALPHA2 code in lower case. Members of the EU have a class="eu", all EHEA countries have a class="europe", non-EHEA countries have a class="nonehea". Image based on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blank_map_of_Europe_(with_disputed_regions).svg by Júlio "Tintazul" Reis and Marian "maix" Sigler. Made by Colin Tück, EQAR, 2017 Released under CreativeCommons Attribution ShareAlike (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/).
  • Membership in EQAR
    Portugal has been a Governmental Member of EQAR since March 2008.

    Read more: all Governmental Members of EQAR

  • General information on higher education

    The Portuguese higher education system includes universities and polytechnics (institutions which provide profession-based training) which may be public or private. While all institutions may offer first and second cycle degree programmes, third cycle degree programmes (doctorate/PhD) are offered by universities and university institutes only.

  • National external quality assurance requirements

    • Audit of internal quality assurance systems
      were launched in 2013 and are optional. The certification of the internal quality assurance system following an audit is valid for six years.

    • Accredition of study programmes
      All degree awarding study programmes in Portugal are subject to a compulsory periodic assessment and accreditation process. The usual period of validity of the accreditation is 6 years.

  • Cross-border quality assurance

    In Portugal under certain conditions higher education institutions may choose a suitable EQAR-registered agency.

    Generally yes, but only under certain conditions.

    • Eligibility requirements for foreign agencies: the QA agency must be approved by the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES).

    • Conditions for the agencies’ work (e.g. criteria to be used): own criteria.

    • Recognition of reviews carried out by foreign agencies: on a case by case decision, the Executive Board of A3ES may accept the result of the assessment / accreditation procedure from other QA agencies.

    Read more: countries where higher education institutions may choose a suitable EQAR-registered agency

  • European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes

    In Portugal the European Approach is available to higher education institutions under certain conditions.

    Read more: countries where the European Approach is available to higher education institutions

  • Further information

Registered agencies operating in Portugal