Degrees
Schools that adhered to the Bologna process (since 2006-2007) maintained the degree names but their significance changed. In ascending order of importance:
Bacharelato The Portuguese bacharelato degree awarded by polytechnical institutions or its predecessors, was a Bachelor degree (but not an honours degree, only the then licenciatura degree was equal to an honours degree) - title: Bacharel or Engenheiro Técnico for engineering technologists - abbreviation: none or Bach.
Non-Bologna: three or four-year course in a polytechnic (before 2007)
Bologna: no longer used.
Licenciatura (Academic License) - title: Licenciado (popular: Dr or Engenheiro for a License in engineering) - abbreviation used in front of holder's name: Lic. (popular: Dr. or Eng. for Engineer, used extensively (formal and colloquially))
Non-Bologna: licenciatura was an honors degree with four- to six-year course in a university, or a Bacharelato complemented with one or two extra years in a polytechnic (called licenciatura bietápica, meaning dual-stage license) or university (before 2007)
Bologna: three-year course in a university or polytechnic. Lincenciatura is now an ordinary degree and no longer an honours degree.
Pós-Graduação or Especialização (Postgraduate degree) - no specific title
Usually one year of specific study for holders of a Licenciatura or Mestrado.
Mestrado (Master's degree) - title: Mestre
Non-Bologna: advanced degree in a specific scientific field, indicating capacity for conducting practical research. Courses last two to four semesters, including lectures and the preparation and discussion of an original dissertation. It is only open to those who have obtained a grade average of 14/20 or higher in the Licenciatura course. Those with less than 14/20 may also be eligible for a Mestrado course after analysis of the curriculum by the university.
Bologna: Licenciatura complemented with one or two extra years in a polytechnic or university; or, in some cases, a 5- to 6-year joint degree (Mestrado Integrado) in a university. Students have to present their public thesis defense in order to be awarded the degree.
Doutorado (Doctorate) - used in front of holder's name: Doutor
The Doutorado is conferred by universities to those who have passed the Doctorate examinations and have defended a thesis, usually to pursue a teaching and researching career at university level. There is no fixed period to prepare for the Doctorate examinations. Candidates must hold a degree of Mestrado or Licenciatura (or a legally equivalent qualification) and have competences and merit that are recognized by the university.
Agregação (Agrégation) - used in front of holder's name: Professor Doutor
This is the highest qualification reserved to holders of the Doutor degree. It requires the capacity to undertake high level research and special pedagogical competence in a specific field. It is awarded after passing specific examinations.
Accreditation
The Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior (Higher Education Accreditation and Evaluation Agency) was created in the late 2000s and started to work in the early 2010s. In 2012, its first thorough accreditation and evaluation report concluded that 25% (or 107) of 420 (out of 3500) bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree programs offered in Portugal, did not comply with elemental quality and academic integrity standards and should be terminated. Besides the state-run accreditation agency, many professional associations of some of the regulated professions have run their own accreditation systems - they are known as Ordens (these include several Ordens, some much larger, reputed and older than others, like the Ordem dos Engenheiros; Ordem dos Advogados; Ordem dos Farmacêuticos; Ordem dos Enfermeiros; Ordem dos Arquitectos; Ordem dos Médicos; Ordem dos Biólogos; Ordem dos Economistas; Ordem dos Revisores Oficiais de Contas; etc.). In general, registration with such associations is a requisite for the legal practice of the profession and it normally requires an admission examination. In some orders (e.g. Ordem dos Engenheiros for the exercise of engineering profession), the accreditation process exemptes candidates, possessing an accredited degree, of such examination. But some orders, as well as some other professional associations, only allow candidates possessing an accredited course to be admitted to examination but do not exempt them from this examination due to the large number of institutions offering degrees in the concerned field with very different teaching standards and curricula (e.g. Ordem dos Advogados for lawyers and the Ordem dos Técnicos Oficiais de Contas for accountants).
History
During many years (at least during most of the 20th century to the 2000s), a graduate in Portugal used to have a compulsory 4 to 5-year course (an exception included medicine, with a 6 years course) known as licenciatura which was granted exclusively by universities. Only graduates having the licenciatura diploma exclusively conferred by the universities were fully able to develop professional activity in their respective field (like engineering, or secondary school teaching) and were universally recognized and regulated by its Ordem (the highest professional association authority) and/or the State. Other higher education courses offering a 3-year bacharelato degree that the newly created polytechnic institutes started to award in the 1970s and 1980s, like the technical engineering courses, the accounting technician courses, or the basic education teaching courses, had its own regulation scheme and were not recognized by the respective Ordens Profissionais in the field or by the State to perform the same professional activities university's licenciados were habilitated for (for instance, technical engineers did not belong to the Ordem of engineers and were awarded a limited range of engineering projects, and most teachers with the polytechnic degrees were not able to teach school students after the 6th grade). In 1999, over 15,000 students enrolled in Portuguese higher learning institutions and newly graduates in the fields of engineering and architecture, were enrolled or were awarded a degree in a non-accredited course. Those students and graduates with no official recognition were not admitted to any Ordem and were unable to sign projects in their presumed field of expertise. At the same time, only one accredited engineering course was offered by a private university, and over 90% of the accredited courses with recognition in the fields of engineering, architecture, and law were provided by state-run universities. The Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior (A3ES) (Higher Education Accreditation and Evaluation Agency) was created in the late 2000s and started to work in the early 2010s. In 2012, its first thorough accreditation and evaluation report to date concluded that 25% (or 107) of 420 (out of 3500) bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree programs offered in Portugal, did not comply with elemental quality and academic integrity standards and should be terminated. In the 1990s, the offer of many new degrees in Portugal became widespread across the entire country through both public and private university and polytechnic institutions. By 2010, lower selectiviness and academic integrity levels, including in some schools previously known for its reputation and prestige, debased the average teaching level in Portugal according to the head of the Portuguese Bar Association (Ordem dos Advogados) Marinho Pinto.
Today's situation
Currently, after many major reforms and changes in higher education started in 1998 which originated a process that spans across the 2000s, the formal differences between polytechnic and university licenciatura degrees are in general null and they have an equivalent denomination and course duration, and due to the Bologna process both graduates should be recognized equally all across Europe. Among the oldest recognized and most extensively accredited courses in Portugal, are those university degrees awarded by the state-run universities. After the large 1998 - 2000s reforms and upgrades, many polytechnic licenciatura degrees started to be offered by the largest state-run polytechnic institutes, like those in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, have been awarded in the same way with wide official recognition by the concerned Ordens Profissionais and the State.