Higher Education in Portugal - Research at Institutions of Higher Learning

Research At Institutions of Higher Learning

Academic research in 2003 represented about 50% of total expenditure in R&D (including expenditure by higher education and related non-profit institutions). Total expenditure (public and private) in R&D was 0.78% of the GDP, which had reached 0.85% in 2001, when the European average was 1.98% for the then-15 EU member-states. Overall, higher education and related non-profit institutions represented in 2003 about 74% of Portuguese researchers, with a total value of 24.726 researchers (i.e., head counts), representing 13.008 FTE researchers. In December 2004, higher education institutions included 11.316 teaching-staff members holding a PhD degree.

In 2001 Portugal was, for the first time in history, one of the countries of excellence that contributed to the top 1% of the world's highly cited publications. Spain was responsible for 2.08%, while Ireland and Greece accounted for 0.36% and 0.3%, respectively.

Within the higher education system, only university institutions carry out fundamental research.

  • Research centers belonging to higher learning institutions accredited by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, 2004
Type of institution Number of research centers Number of institutions
Public universities 384 14
Public polytechnics 8 15
Catholic University 14 1
Private universities 7 N/A
Other private institutions 20 N/A
Total 433 N/A

Source: FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

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