INTRODUCTION

Fifty years have passed since the Carnation Revolution took place in Portugal. On April 25^th, the “New State” (Estado Novo, in Portuguese), name given to the fascist regime that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974, originated from a military takeover supported by the portuguese people since the beginning and quickly transformed into a revolutionary process that normalized on November 25^th, 1975. After this date, the Carnation Revolution, a bloodless revolution, lost its glow, following small amendments on the political regime and as consequence got a significant number of members from the far right-winged party inside Portuguese Republic Assembly, with 50 deputies from a total of 230.

At this moment, it’s hard to know how Portuguese democracy will evolve. It is also hard to have a perspective about what to expect from a Social State which has never been consolidated and has become a target of attacks and tensions in the last years. However, related to Education, it’s possible to make a balance from the last 50 years, particularly in higher education, and to analyze its evolution in order to realize how much all the expansion and democratization process of education was supported by government measures to support poor students. On the other hand, they will not have financial conditions to attend higher education institutions (^{Cerdeira; Cabrito; Mucharreira, 2021}).

In this article, we briefly show how the search for education increased and how higher education financing evolved, with the participation of the followings: State, higher education institutions and students/families.

HIGHER EDUCATION EXPANSION AND DEMOCRATIZATION

One of the most significant answers from Portuguese people for the replenishment of democracy in the country was the explosive and supported movement of education seeking, setting conscience that more education should mean better jobs and better wages and, at the same time, better status and social ascension (^{Bourdieu; Passeron, 1964}, ¹⁹⁷⁰; ^{Bourdieu, 1979}). This dynamic is still a present topic although, in the last years, a crisis of vertical transmission of culture and the progressive importance of groups to press its members was noted and developed (^{Pasquier, 2005}).

Also, it's not strange for this search the market interest itself with the presumption that more education is equal to a more competent and qualified human capital to answer the continued demands of the market (^{Becker, 1964}; ^{Schultz, 1961}).

In a kind of “game” in which everybody wins, the Portuguese searched and won more qualification, the social basis of students’ recruitment widened, and the market won a more qualified workforce, following a dynamic of capital accumulation defined in the relation education/job (^{Souza, 2006}).

Taking in account this dynamic, two dates and decisive procesess that stimulate elementary and high education whose headcounts enabled the higher education explosion shall be highlighted: in 1986, the 9 years compulsory education was established (^{Law number 46/86}, from October 14^th/^{Law of Education System Basis), in 2009}, the term of compulsory schooling widened up to 18 years old (^{Law number 85/2009}, from August, 27^th). As a consequence from these two laws, the number of young people at elementary and high school increased heavily, creating a huge number of young people that could go up to higher education. Note Table 1:

If the increase in the number of young people aging between 6 and 18 years enrolled at schools is a result of the establishment of mandatory schooling. It’s not possible to say the same when related to higher education: its attendance isn’t mandatory and the associated costs are expensive, making it impossible to many families.

However, the search for higher education dizzily increased since the 70’s as shown on Table 2:

The end of the dictatorship in 1974 allowed empowerment of the Portuguese people in a whole. Since 1974, the population has been searching for higher education systematically, what is, clearly, a leverage for the process of social ascension (^{Bourdieu; Passeron, 1964}, ¹⁹⁷⁰; ^{Bourdieu, 2013}). Between 1970 and 2023, the number of enrollments at higher education increased more than 9 times.

As a consequence from the increasing number of students at higher education, the number of graduated students is also increasing quickly, as shown on Graphic 1.

1991 – 18,671 graduated students; 2023 – 97,182 graduated students

Source: ^PORDATA

Graphic 1 Evolution of the number of students graduated at higher education by year in Portugal (counting Teaching Licensure, Master’s Degree, Doctor’s Degree and Specialization’s Course – ISCED 5-8) 

The increase of attend and graduation at higher education reflected on the qualification level of the Portuguese as it was expected, causing a significant increase of qualified workforce in the country, naturally.

Table 3 clearly shows the educational path crossed by Portuguese people along the last decades:

This increase in the qualification level of the Portuguese is still very expressive when we highlight only the Portuguese within the age range from 30 to 34 years old and comparing the evolution of qualification level with the European Union’s values and with Euro Zone’s countries: the numbers reveal the effort made and the success of Portugal and of the Portuguese on the seek and achievement of higher and higher qualification levels. Note Table 4:

As shown on Table 4, the percentage of Portuguese within age range 30-34 years old with higher education more than triplicated, increasing in higher speed than the average of European Union’s countries, sometimes overcoming this average. The numbers effectively show the portuguese effort to develop and achieve maturity levels similar to other European countries.

POLICIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCING THE OF STATE, STUDENTS AND PUBLIC IES IN PORTUGAL

Concerning higher education, as the attendance is voluntary and there is no consensus about its public or private nature, its universality will hardly be affected and the concern about its financing will always be open.

In fact, social scientists as ^{Le Grand (1990)} or ^{Barr (1993)} highlights the private nature of higher education because they consider the students as the main beneficiaries, as the new and highest levels of qualification will make them get better jobs, better wages and better social status. Under this circumstance, they affirm that it makes no sense that Government pays the necessary costs to provide higher education benefits by tax collected from contributors, some of them without higher education level.

On the other hand, other social scientists as ^{Weale (1992)}, ^{Wolfe (1995)} or Wolfe and Zuvekas (1997) reveals the benefits of a more educated and qualified population for countries: higher levels of solidarity and civil participation, lower level of crimes and other marginalities, higher levels of productivity, more than the spill over effect from the most qualified individuals to the others (^{Romer, 1986}).

Naturally, between both extreme positions, there are several realities, taking into account that governments help in higher education financing, even in countries where the idea of market is stronger and higher education is associated to a private good, for example, the United States of America and Japan, because of several reasons as market’s failures and prepared qualified workforce for the market (^{Eicher; Chevaillier, 1993}; ^{Eicher, 1998}).

That’s why Governments in most of western countries until the 80’s assumed the main responsibility to finance higher education (^{Ziderman, Albrecht, 1995}).

The State’s role in young people education and in higher education financing, for undergraduate courses and for graduate ones, through direct financing of institutions and through student financing (scholarships, subsidized loans and others indirect support), has changed significantly in the last decades. Governments have gradually been stopping investment in the production of public and semipublic goods, such as higher education, for financial difficulties or for ideological considerations, forcing the institutions to diversify their financial sources, appealing to what authors as ^{Johnstone (1986)}, ^{Woodhall (2003)}, ^{Vossensteyn (2002}, ²⁰⁰⁵) among others called “cost sharing”. This policy emerged associated to the establishment of fees, and during some decades after the Carnation Revolution, in Portugal, predominated the idea that higher education is a public/semipublic good, justifying the several support measures to attendance and continuity of young people from poor social class in this education level. However, since the end of the last century the State is disengaging public IES financing (^{Cabrito, 2004}; ^{Cabrito; Cerdeira; Mucharreira, 2023}), following a global neoliberal trend as shown on Table 5: from a status of the sole financer of public higher education, today the State contributes just with a bit more than half of public IES budget.

Facing this new situation, the public IES were obliged to look for other financing sources, together with students/families by an annual charge of frequency (in ^Portugal, called as “fees”) or together with the market and with sponsorship, developing a group of initiatives implemented by a real process of diversification of financing sources (^{Cerdeira, 2009}). This participation of other actors in public IES financing, the cost sharing policy, is well demonstrated on Graphic 2.

Source: CNE.

Graphic 2 The reality of cost sharing policy in public IES financing, in Portugal: CNE. 

Graphic 2 shows a trend for privatization of the public service: the State is reducing its participation in IES budget and increasing the participation of other actors.

EVOLUTION OF FEES/ANNUITIES VALUES

The expenses that young people are forced to pay with higher education are multiples. One of the parcels from these expenses is the annuities paid by the young to higher education institutions, the so called fees.

Observing Graphic 2, it’s possible to conclude that the students/families’ role established IES budget in less than 15%. However, this decrease is probably temporary.

In fact, the law of higher education financing in force, ^{Law number 37/2003}, from August 22^nd, established a new formula to calculate the fee, whose value is now decided by higher education institutions within a term defined by law. However, in the last years, thanks to the registered break in the search for higher education because of Covid-19 pandemic and also for the financial crisis the country got through between 2011 and 2015, the government and the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (CRUP, in Portuguese) and the Portuguese Polytechnics Coordinating Council (CCISP, in Portuguese), decided to temporally reduce the fee maximum value to 697 Euros.

Anyway, it’s possible to note that the fees are an important part of public higher education financing, and its amount have increased during the years. However, this increasing isn’t regular, as observed on Graphic 3, which shows the evolution of the value of frequency/fee annual charge to attend public higher education during the last decades.

Source: Elaboration of the authors

Notes: 1^st – The decrease of the maximum fee value for 697 Euros in 2020 and 2021 Budget was approved at the Assembly of the Republic; 2^nd – The referred value was the same on the subsequent years.

Graphic 3 Evolution of annual charge value from 93/94 to 2021/2022 

As demonstrated on Graphic 3, in spite of some exceptions, the trend is to have an increase in the evolution of fee value, since the establishment of its updated value, in 1992/93. It’s important to highlight that the fee maximum value strongly decreased in the last years as an answer from the system to the decrease of growth rate in the search for higher education or even a break in the search in absolute terms, due to financial difficulties the country and the young people/families are passing by. Nowadays, the fee value is near the minimum charged in 2017/2018, keeping the same value fixed in 2024/2025.

SOCIOECONOMIC ORIGIN FROM HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

According to what was exposed in the topic before, in the last decades, Portugal has had an explosive increase in the number of students attending or graduated from elementary or high school. The number of graduated at higher education increased significantly, reflecting the qualification level of the workforce.

Before this growth, it’s natural the questioning about the socioeconomic origin of the students in higher education, what is relevant concerning the low number of students in higher education , basically young people from a more privileged social class until the 70’s, reproducing the dominant order. A higher education for the elite was the characteristic from New State.

However, a lot of things changed since the Carnation Revolution. All the young people from all social classes are called to attend school with the establishment of mandatory school.

The increasing number of enrolled and graduated in higher education isn’t only due to young people from the most privileged social class. On the contrary, the number of young people in higher education in Portugal is so high that the only explanation is the widen of social basis recruitment.

Effectively, the recent investigation about the socioeconomic origin of students in higher education, in Portugal, is showing this widenth, with an increased participation of young people from least privileged social class. Observe Table 6.

THE SUPPORT FROM THE STATE

The numbers above show how Portuguese public higher education is democratized although the participation of young people from least privileged social class is still the minority.

However, in a country where the workers’ average salary was 1,041 euros/month in 2023 (the minimum salary established in 2024 was 820 euros/month) and where a significant part of the population still lives in poverty (the poverty index in ^{Portugal in 2022}, according to the “National Observer of the Fight Against Poverty” was 20.1%), it is important to know the direct and indirect financial effort performed by the State in order to let students from least privileged social class to have an opportunity to ascend to higher education.

There are three fundamental types of State policies to support the attendance of students in higher education: direct monetary support by scholarship policy and other benefits; policy of subsidized loans; other policies.

THE COSTS OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT SOCIAL ACTION

One of the fundamental instruments that the State is appealing to support young people from least privileged social class to attend higher education classes is the scholarship program. Table 7 shows how the number of scholarship holders is evolving in the last decades.

Table 7 shows how the total number of young people receiving scholarship from the State to attend higher education classes has been evolving. In two decades, this number is higher than one million of scholarships conceded.

It’s important to highlight that this effort from the State materialized into scholarships conceded to young people, not only from public higher education but also from the private, demonstrates the desire to increase the attendance in higher education classes by young people from least privileged social class, independent from the chosen higher education subsystem.

However, it’s also important to highlight that the evolution in the number of scholarships conceded in the term from 1991-2021 was irregular, decreasing in the first half of 2010 decade, due to financial crisis that the country passed through and to austerity policies pursued by the government at the time. Only after 2015, due to a government change, that is now from center-left wing, this trend inverted, highlighting the increasing number at the 2020 decade. The increasing of scholarships also reflected on the evolution of the costs associated to the State, as demonstrated on Table 8.

However, the irregularity of the values paid by the State with scholarships reflected significantly on the average value of the scholarships during the term. It increased between 2000 and 2010 but decreased in the following term. In 2022, the average value of scholarships represented only 69.3% of the average value of 2010, confirming a break on the efforts from the State on this individual support. The values in 2022 revealead that this political measure is more and more efficient, not only for the number of scholarship holders, but also for the amount expended.

It’s also important to note that this measure of support for poor students doesn’t come only from State Budget. The role of European Union on this educational policy shall be highlighted. Observe Graphic 4.

Source: CNE, from IGeFE, IP, 2023.

Graphic 4 Evolution of expenses with direct social action (scholarships) 

As to the scholarship policy and inclusion policies context, in 2017 the government created the program “Inclusion for Knowledge” through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, fixing scholarships for attendance of students with inability equal or higher than 60%. Thisvalue is equivalent to the fee effectively paid until the maximum limit of the fee allowed by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P., in Portuguese) to obtain Doctorate Degree (2750 euros) ( https://www.dges.gov.pt/pt/pagina/bolsas-de-estudo-para-frequencia-de-estudantes-com-incapacidade?plid=373).

Source: ^DGES.

Graphic 5 Requirements for scholarships to students with inability 

More than direct support to students with scholarships, the State also indirectly supports the students from public higher education subsidizing expenses, among other costs:

Graphic 6 shows how much the State expended, how much has really been expended with indirect supports for students from public higher education during the last years.

Source: CNE, from IGeFE, 2023.

Graphic 6 Evolution of the expenses with indirect social action (meal, housing and others indirect support) 

Analyzing Graphic 6, it’s possible to conclude that the States’ contribution in expenses with indirect social action remained relatively constant in the last decade as other sources (community financing, own revenues, and Public Administration transfers) presented a more irregular evolution, but always higher than the expenses assured by the State Budget.

The provision of beds/housing hasn’t increased during the last years in spite of its importance as support policy for students, particularly the poor ones.

Note: No data available for 2011

Source: ^{CNE, Plano Nacional para o Alojamento no Ensino Superior – PNAES, 2022}

Graphic 7 Evolution of the number of beds available in Public Higher Education housings 

OTHER RECENT MEASURES

Since the Covid-19 pandemic years, the government implemented some educative policy measures from different nature, changing the financial impact on the students, particularly the ones from low/middle or low class.

We highlight three of these measures: two are directed to young people graduated at high school by Professional via, mostly frequented by young people from low level of economic and cultural capital; the other one is a measure applied to all poor young people, independent from the high school via (regular or professional).

In relation to the youngsters who completed high school education by professional via:

Concerning poor young people, those from A Tier in the Social Action policies, since 2023/2024, government, with the collaboration of other higher education institutions, reserves a specific number of vacancies for these youngsters, including the designated excellence courses such as Medicine, Architecture and Bioengineering, which are hard to be accessed by these students.

For the scholar year 2024/2025, 2% of vacancies from courses with more than 100 applicants and 2 vacancies from other courses were reserved for these young people. In other words, for each course that the students may apply (there are more than 1,100 courses available at public higher education institutions for the next scholar year), there are at least two vacancies reserved for young people from the low social class.

Indeed, in the present scholar year (2023/2024), there were 2,500 vacancies reserved, but only 1,013 young people from the low social class accessed, what may be explained by the extremely severe economic conditions in which they live and by the insufficient financial supports from the State relative to the vacancies reserved.

THE POLICY OF BANK LOANS

Another support policy to young people access higher education is the loan policy. This policy, responsible for the increasing the privatization of the public higher education, has been developed during the last 20 years and constitutes from credit availability with reduced charges, longer depreciation period and grace periods available by commercial bank but assured by the State, that’s why it’s called as Mutual Guarantee Loans.

As it is a relatively recent political measure, there are few young people appealing to loans. Note Table 10.

Taking in account the data on Table 10, it’s important to refer that in the period from 2007 to 2016:

In 2017, the loans were suspended but in 2018 the government reactivated the credit line created in 2007. On October 31^st, 2018, the government, with Investment Company S.A. (SPGM) and Human Capital Operational Program (POCH), signed the “Credit Line for Higher Education Students with Mutual Guarantee”. Four banks adhered to this loan line of mutual guarantee: Banco Comercial Português (BCP Millennium); the public bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD); the Banco Montepio and the Banco de Investimento (BIC), this lasted until 2023.

Following the reactivation of this student loans policy, there was a recovery, and the average value of the loan contracted during this period was similar to the one from the previous period, as shown on Table 11.

An analyzis of Tables 10 11 show that the average value of the loans hasn’t varied significantly from 2007 to 2022, suggesting that the financial crisis that crashed the country (2008-2011) and the austerity policy that followed it (2011-2015) as well as the consequent problems from Covid-19 pandemic (2019-2020) and from the war in Ukraine (2022-) haven’t a determinant role on the values of contracted loans.

Finally, we shall note that the asks for loans aren’t equally distributed for all cycles of education. Observe Table 12:

The data on Table 12 show how the search for credit vary according to the cycles of education, with predominance of the teaching license degree. The first cycle from higher education (3 years) is the one with the highest rate of attendance (65.8% from higher education students), because many students get jobs just after graduating from teaching license degree. It’s also interesting to note that students from courses in which it is mandatory to attend the master’s degree to perform their professions (such Psychology, Veterinarian, Architecture, Medicine, Agronomy, some Engineering courses) are the ones who ask for credit.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Taking in account what was exposed, it’s possible to conclude that the attendance and graduation from higher education in Portugal increased significantly since the Carnation Revolution and the social basis of recruitment of higher education students widened, in spite of the long path that ensures a higher homology between the socioeconomic origin from the higher education students and the Portuguese population.

It was also verified that the qualification level of the Portuguese population clearly increased, following the democratization process and the education universalization in Portugal.

The analyzis also shows a continued and sustainable process of privatization of the public higher education, with the State being released of liability to finance higher education public institutions. At the same time these institutions are forced to diversify their sources of financing, adopting a policy of costs sharing, not only with students/families, but also in the market, with the collaboration of foundational and business institutions, by the selling of provision service to the market and also by sponsorship.

This privatization process impacted negatively on the financing capability of the young students, especially the ones from low social class that could keep on studying because of the several supports from the State, as the scholarship policy, the indirect social supports, the loans policy and non-monetary measures, such as the opening of new vias to access higher education or vacancies reservation for all courses from higher education for young students from the low social class.

Undoubtfully, since the Carnation Revolution, education has passed through a democratization process and the rate of graduation at higher education is near the rate from the most developed countries from European Union.

However, in spite of the verified increase in the qualification level of the Portuguese population, it’s important that: