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Less than a fifth of vocational education students who completed secondary education (18%) continued their studies in higher education. The proportion reaches 80% in the case of colleagues on scientific-humanistic courses. The Government wants more professional students to enter universities and polytechnics.
The balance is contained in the report “Education at a Glance 2023”, released yesterday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and which led the Minister of Education to state that it is a reason for the country to be “vain”. The government official highlights the “absolutely extraordinary leap” that Portugal has made in the last 50 years, with more young people finishing secondary school and attending higher education. At the ceremony to present the results of the international report, João Costa admitted, however, that “there is a lot to be done” to value the professional. For the minister, a certain “stigma” surrounding professional paths may explain the difference between students who opt for these courses compared to scientific-humanistic courses, regretting that there are frequent reports of young people being advised not to pursue professional education,
Stigmatized professional
In the 2020/2021 academic year, 109,585 were enrolled in professional courses - corresponding to 36% of the total number of students enrolled in secondary education -, 86,487 fewer than in regular education, according to data from InfoEscolas.
João Costa pointed out that there are professional students with an “open door” to various degrees, particularly in engineering, but they are not aware of this opportunity due to a lack of vocational guidance. “There needs to be this knowledge. Stigma feeds on ignorance,” he warned.
On the occasion, the Secretary of State for Higher Education, Pedro Nuno Teixeira, recognized that it is necessary to “make access to Higher Education “more rewarding”, namely to attract more young people coming from professional courses, as well as those over 23 years old.
To “strengthen the diversification of pathways” for students arriving at universities and polytechnics, the person in charge highlighted that, in recent years, the access regime to Higher Education has undergone changes. “It is very important that there are future prospects for these students and that there is a class that values the effort of more than two decades of consolidation and political, social and economic valorization of this path of education”, he warned.
Few open positions
Since 2020, these students are not required to take national exams to apply for Higher Education, as the programs taught are different. They must, therefore, do so through a special competition. However, the measure falls far short of expectations: this year, only 1006 vacancies were opened for professional pathways. It is the educational institutions that define them and evaluate candidates through specific exams.
Although the OECD report notes that programs are an important part of the Higher Education system in some of the 48 countries analyzed - in Austria, Colombia, Turkey and the United States, with more than 40% of those entering Higher Education for the first time opting for this route - Portugal does not follow this trend. In 2021, only 10.5% enrolled in short-cycle Higher Education programs, below the OECD average of 20%. In Portugal, CTeSP - courses lasting two years and leading to a Higher Education diploma - were introduced in 2014 and are taught mainly in polytechnic institutes.