Higher Education in Portugal

Annex A. The TSI project stakeholder Survey

The TSI project stakeholder survey was conducted between March and June 2024. It was designed to understand what stakeholders consider as the main barriers to enrolling in and completing higher education programmes, and to collect examples of situations where these barriers prevented young people from participating in higher education, based on their experience.

This questionnaire included 19 questions about barriers and policy approaches and was aimed at professionals working in the Portuguese education system. It is one of the tools used to improve the understanding of what different stakeholders, in particular the practitioners and decision-makers in this sector, consider to be the main barriers faced by students in accessing and completing higher education. The questionnaire also made it possible to collect examples of situations in which these barriers have prevented young people from participating in higher education. Particular attention was paid to the access to and completion of higher education by young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Table A.1. Professional roles of TSI project stakeholder survey respondents

Role of the respondents	Number of respondents
Teaching staff	1210
Student and parent representatives	172
Other non-academic staff	172
Social services	137
Management team/board member	122
Other	111
Psychologist	47
Rector or president	46
Admissions services	45

Source: TSI Project Stakeholder survey, 2024.

The TSI project stakeholder survey was designed by the project team in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES, founded by the Universities of Aveiro and Porto) and subsequently translated into Portuguese. It was programmed in Lime Survey and distributed by CIPES, DGES, and DGEstE to all higher education institutions and all secondary schools in the 24 most socially disadvantaged municipalities in Portugal, with a request to the receiver to pass on the TSI project stakeholder survey to the relevant members of staff. By 31 May, the TSI project stakeholder survey received 3 100 responses, out of which N=2 062 responses were valid and used for analysis.