Funding reforms and revenue diversification – patterns, challenges and rhetoric

Abstract

In recent years, much has been written about the challenging financial context faced by many European higher education institutions, and the pressures towards funding diversification. However, the evidence available indicates that funding diversification has seldom lived up to the rhetorical expectations of marketization and privatization that have often sprinkled policy reforms. We analyse a decade of funding changes in Portugal, looking at the emphasis on revenue diversification in legal changes, and comparing this with the observed trends in institutional funding structure. We also discuss what factors may be more significant in explaining the evolution of revenue diversification.