The influence of Bologna process and Lisbon strategy on the rhetoric change in government’ programs in Portugal

Abstract

In 1974 a military Revolution changed the political regime, and opened the Portuguese society to new social, economic and cultural challenges. A reform launched by the old regime in 1973 as a response to a social and economic need to modernize Portuguese society, was adjusted but continued until the full creation of the binary system. This organizational option was adopted for the higher education system to enhance its ability to produce knowledge, to deliver teaching and to give the expected contribution to improve the economy and to raise culture and qualification in society. During all the time, economic issues have been present in discourse about higher education: as the essential issue of funding to assure the sustainability of institutions; as a contributor agent through knowledge transfer to increase productivity and economy. At European level the willingness and decision to introduce changes at higher education systems became merged with a European initiative to increase the potential of European economy. In Portugal the Bologna Process triggered a reform of the higher education system, from legal framework to pedagogical methodologies in the classroom, and so is an opportunity to improve quality and deepen the identity of institutions and sectors.