In recent years, much has been written about the challenging financial context faced by many European higher education institutions, and the pressures towards funding diversification. However, the evidence available indicates that funding diversification has seldom lived up to the rhetorical expectations of marketization and privatization that have often sprinkled policy reforms. We analyse a decade of funding changes in Portugal, looking at the emphasis on revenue diversification in legal changes, and comparing this with the observed trends in institutional funding structure. We also discuss what factors may be more significant in explaining the evolution of revenue diversification.
In the context of increased international competition and financial austerity, an economic development mission has become an important strategic and policy issue for European higher education. This paper aims to contribute to knowledge regarding universities' engagement with the external environment and its impact on internal governance and management. Using a qualitative case study approach, the paper explores third mission activities in Portuguese universities and examines university managers' perceptions about the barriers to their greater effectiveness. The results identified two major types of barriers: external, relating mainly to government regulations and funding allocation, and internal, involving organizational characteristics. The study also highlighted some tensions between a growing emphasis on third mission activities and their institutionalization process within universities. The results are relevant to researchers who would like to continue the debate in a comparative perspective; as well as to policy-makers and institutional leaders.
In the last decades, European higher education systems have been experiencing an unprecedented expansion, which created significant financial and political challenges. At the same time, we have seen a shift in attitudes towards public higher education that has promoted new ways of funding this sector. This context has led to major changes in the funding of public higher education, namely through the promotion of greater efficiency in the use of public resources and greater diversification of revenues of public higher education institutions. This article analyses funding reforms in Portuguese higher education and discusses their aims vis‐à‐vis the actual changes in funding sources and modes of funding. The analysis is based in the perceptions of several major stakeholders (collected through semi‐structured interviews) about the effects of funding reforms.
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