The Binary System of Higher Education—The Case of Portugal in the Light of the Current Reality

The article aims to discuss the issue related to the higher desirable education system for Portugal (binary or unitary?) in the light of the Portuguese reality. A brief review of the literature will be based on the important contribution of several authors, namely James S. Taylor • José Brites Ferreira, Maria de Lourdes Machado, and Rui Santiago (Non-University higher Education in Europe, Springer, 2008). The reality of the higher education system in Portugal will be shown, the results from the analysis carried out on the institutional evaluation reports carried out by A3ES (Agency for the Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education in Portugal), as well as the thinking of fifteen current or former top leaders of HEIs, resulting from the interviews that were carried out to them, following the methodology adopted in 2021 to prepare the questions of the questionnaire. Finally, preliminary conclusions of the study that is currently being developed and that supported the completion of the interview questionnaire will be presented.