Portuguese firms increasingly recruit from professional courses – Portugal Resident

Professional education still widely regarded as “Plan B” — but times are changing

Portuguese companies struggling to recruit skilled workers are becoming increasingly dependent on school-leavers with professional qualifications.

Demand has changed so markedly that companies which once had to be persuaded to accept professional-course students as trainees are now actively approaching schools in search of recruits.

“A few decades ago, we went around companies begging for internship places,” Amadeu Dinis, president of the National Association of Professional Schools (Anespo), told Jornal de Notícias. “Today, it is exactly the opposite: companies come looking for us.”

Despite strong employment prospects — and salaries in some sectors that can be considerably higher than those available to pupils emerging from the conventional academic route — professional education is still widely viewed as a second-tier option.

João Cerejeira, an economist and professor at the University of Minho, said the perception of professional education as a “Plan B” bears little relation to current labour-market realities.

“In some areas of professional education, particularly digitalisation and industry, salaries tend to be substantially higher — sometimes by around 30%,” he said. “These are significant figures which often are not communicated.”

Around 112,000 pupils were enrolled in professional courses during the 2023/24 academic year, according to Statistics Portugal (INE). Professional pathways accounted for a record 45% of secondary-school enrolments in 2013/14 and still represent close to 40%, according to a report by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

Portugal’s main business organisations confirm that the country’s dependence on technically trained school-leavers is continuing to grow.

CIP, the Portuguese Business Confederation, said companies increasingly need employees who are ready to perform skilled roles from their first day at work, improving productivity and competitiveness.

AIP, the Portuguese Industrial Association, has also reported growing demand for technical and technological workers, particularly those holding intermediate level 4 and 5 qualifications. It warned, however, of a continuing mismatch between the skills being taught and those companies actually require.

Business organisations are consequently demanding a greater role in shaping professional programmes, training standards and school curricula.

Luís Miguel Ribeiro, president of AEP, the Portuguese Business Association, believes the priority should be to achieve “effective alignment between the training available and the real needs of the business sector”.

Cerejeira, meanwhile, argues for a more hybrid approach to further education, bringing professional and academic courses closer together — and dismantling the notion that professional education is intended for pupils considered incapable of following a university-oriented path.

Source material: Executive Digest