The University in Portugal during the transition to democracy and neoliberalism

The history of the University in Portugal lives a moment of great relevance in the transition to democracy in the decade 1970-1980. Under the Marcello Caetano government (1968-1974) –the continuation of the New State of Salazar, the «fascism of the professorship»– there were some internal reforms, state reform experiences (with the creation of new universities and schools of higher education) and important struggles of students against the dictatorship; after the «Carnation Revolution» of April 25, there was also a poorly planned and not achieved attempt to draw a «political university» of Marxist influence, with the intention to accompany the extreme phase of the revolution. With the 1976 Constitution, based on a democratic nature of Occidental countries, and the first constitutional governments, higher education has been consolidated in our binary system, made by university and polytechnic. However, there is also evidence of the trend towards a neoliberal education system, announcing the foundation of many universities and particular institutes. In order to discuss this complex evolution, the article exceeds the decade of the 70s of the XX century, even to the current XXI century, characterized by the crisis of the universits, which leads us to ask: Which University? How to reference this article Torgal, L. R. (2015). A Universidade em Portugal em período de transição para a democracia e para o neoliberalismo. Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 2(2), 155-171. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/ete.2015.002.002.00