Training students for new jobs: The role of technical and vocational higher education and implications for science policy in Portugal

This article contextualizes the role of technical and vocational higher education in training the labour force and derives significant implications for science policy in Portugal. A cross-national comparative case study in Southern (Portugal), and Western (Netherlands and Germany) Europe, suggested that technical and vocational higher education is building distinct learning profiles in terms of new intermediary institutions promoting problem-based learning together with the implementation of short-term project-oriented research. Learning and training practises are increasingly research-based and, above all, inclusive of social and economic partners via formal and, most of the time, informal collaborative mechanisms. These practises may be economy- or policy-driven but occur as an opportunity for strategic action at organizational and content levels. For the Portuguese case, our analysis suggests that emphasizing short-term project-oriented research in short-cycle education may strengthen the institutional credibility of Portuguese technical and vocational higher education by engaging local external actors in training the labour force. In addition, it may help to stimulate the necessary institutional and programmatic diversification of higher education.