Higher Education, research and precarity in Portugal

Abstract

In recent years, precarity has increased across a wide range of economic and productive sectors. The university is one of the clearest examples of how this phenomenon is not restricted to jobs with reduced education. Based on the critical review of two recently published works, O Ensino Superior e Desenvolvimento, by José Ferreira Gomes, and Nós Somos os Rankings! Precariedade, Reflexividade e Acção Social na Academia Neoliberalizada, by Ana Ferreira, the aim of this essay is to analyse, on the one hand, the relationship between the structural reconfiguration of higher education institutions and the increase in precarity in this area and, on the other, its impacts on the socio-professional condition of those who dedicate their lives to academic work.