Main characteristics of the adult education and training system

In recent decades, Portugal has made a significant effort to improve the qualifications of its population, thus addressing a historical weakness in this area.

Although some progress has been made, qualifications remain far below the levels of more developed countries, hampering development in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy and distinguished by the imperative of a green and digital transition, with a view to planetary sustainability.

Innovative solutions became necessary regarding objectives, organisation and methods used to overcome difficulties and achieve rapid and sustained improvements to the population’s skills and qualifications.

The National Qualification System (Sistema Nacional de Qualificações – SNQ) aims to promote widespread completion of upper secondary education as the population's minimum qualification. It also deals with the mechanisms necessary for its implementation, in conjunction with the appropriate financial frameworks, the Partnership Agreement and Operational Programmes to be implemented in the 2021-2027 period,  in particular.

Improving the workforce's basic education and training must also generate the necessary competences for personal development and modernisation of enterprises and the economy, as well as facilitating citizens’ academic and vocational achievement.

On the grounds of social justice and development imperatives, these objectives apply to both young people and adults, as something that promotes new qualification opportunities for the unemployed and people already in the employment market, specifically those disadvantaged by leaving school early or dropping out.

The SNQ adopts the principles established in the agreement with the social partners, restructuring vocational training within the education and training system and in the job market, integrating them with common objectives and tools and placing them within a revised institutional framework.

Taking a retrospective approach, the main aim of the New Opportunities Initiative presented in late 2005, was to overcome the structural deficit in qualifications by making general schooling available to the population.

With regard to adults, this initiative put an emphasis on recognising, validating and certifying competences gained in informal and non-formal contexts, as well as vocationally oriented education, creating conditions of access in both cases.

Likewise, an effort has been made to diversify and extend provision so, with the necessary adaptations, it covers the whole population with qualifications lower than upper secondary education. The aim is to “develop the ability to build individual learning pathways that value the acquisitions of each person, promoting flexible education models and giving greater relevance to training in a work context...”.

This development involved increasing adult education and training courses (Cursos de educação e formação de adultos - Cursos EFA), extending the network of recognition, validation and certification of competences (RVCC) centres, later called New Opportunities Centres (Centros Novas Oportunidades - CNO), now Qualifica centres, designing a key competences reference framework for upper secondary adult education and training and the promotion of the integrated management of provision and the providers network.

In 2016, the Qualifica Programme was launched. This government programme was implemented for better adult qualifications, aiming at improving the general population’s qualification levels and employability.

The Qualifica Programme is based on a qualification strategy that combines educational and training provision and various mechanisms that promote adult qualification, involving a broad network of operators.

This programme focusses on improving the Portuguese population’s qualifications, which continues to show a deficit, which affects the country’s development. According to PORDATA (2023), 41,1% of the population (aged 15-64) possess qualifications lower than upper secondary education. The Qualifica Programme aims to bring Portugal more in line with the EU average in terms of schooling and lifelong learning, mobilising the adult population to improve qualifications.

This Programme essentially seeks to achieve the following objectives:

• Increase the workforce’s qualifications and improve employability equipping them with skills that meet the needs of the job market.
• Significantly reduce literal and functional illiteracy rates, as well as combating semi-illiteracy.
• Improve the system with young adults investing more in education and training.
• Correct the country’s structural weakness in terms of schooling and bring it in line with European levels.
• Tailor provision and training network to the needs of the job market and the national and regional development model.

Apart from the Qualifica Programme, adult education and training provision also includes face-to-face and distance learning (ESRaD). Although targeted at adults, it is also accessible to young people between 16 and 18 who are working or at risk of dropping out of school:

• Recurrent education is designed for adults who have not completed a certain level of education at the typical age of schooling and is divided into four science-humanities courses: science and technology; socioeconomic sciences; languages and humanities; visual arts.
• Recurrent secondary distance education (ESRaD) is also aimed at adults who have not completed this level of education at typical school age, and is organised to allow any candidate, resident in Portugal or abroad, to access this training provision.

The provision of adult education and training is very diverse, as is the distribution of responsibilities and the type of structures. The National Qualifications System (SNQ), established by Decree-Law No. 396/2007, 31 December, and Decree-Law No. 14/2017, 26 January, which amends the legal framework of the SNQ and defines the structures that ensure its operation.

For more detailed information, please read subchapter 7.4 Main types of provision.

Statistics on adult education and training

To read the data more accurately, we feature the following acronyms:  

• Adult education and training courses – EFA courses
• Process of recognition, validation and certification of competences – RVCC
• Certified modular training - FMC
• Upper secondary education completion pathways or certification under Decree-Law No 357/2007, 29 October, that regulates the process of conclusion and certification for adults who attended upper secondary courses (without successful completion) and whose curricula are now extinct - DL 357

Adults enrolled in basic and upper secondary education, by type of educational establishment, level of education and education and training provision - Portugal (2023/2024)

Source: Estatísticas da Educação 2023/2024 (Education statistics 2023/2024), DGEEC - Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (2025).

The Qualifica centres' network

The Qualifica Centres were created in 2016, by Ordinance No. 232/2016, 19 August, replacing the Centres for Qualification and Vocational Education (CQEP), which were 261 in 2016. By December 2025, the network consists of 309 centres. Regarding the number of enrollments in centres, there has been a constant effort to guide adults towards the qualification solutions available within the National Qualifications System.

In addition to recognising skills previously acquired by adults in informal and non-formal learning, these centres also provide guidance and referral to other qualification solutions, such as adult education and training courses, certified modular training, upper secondary conclusion pathways, etc.

Qualifica Centres Network, activity indicators 

The Qualifica Centres provide national coverage and are distributed by NUT III in the following way:

Distribution of the Qualifica Centre network by NUTS III in December 2025

Source: ANQEP, 31st December 2025.

Certifications

The following table shows the total number of certifications by qualification level (school, vocational and dual) obtained by adults, as a result of Qualifica Centres, from January 2017 to December 2025.

Number of total certifications by qualification level (academic/vocational/dual), January 2017 to December 2025

Source: ANQEP and SIGO, 31st December 2025. Notes: *CTC: certification by vocational training centres that offer training and certification recognised by the National Qualifications System (SNQ); **Upper secondary education completion pathways or certification under Decree-Law No 357/2007, 29 October.

This table shows that, from 2017 to December 2025, there were more school certifications than vocational and dual certification, which may be related to the structural qualification deficit due to early school leaving for adult age groups. It also shows a greater number of upper secondary level certifications, not only at the level of RVCC processes but also other training solutions, such as EFA courses.

It is also important to demonstrate how certifications have changed over the years. In the following table we can see this in terms of total as well as partial certifications. Not all adults obtain full certification within the RVCC processes; some may only have part of the competencies in the framework recognized and certified. In these cases, partial certification is awarded, and, following the referrals made by the Qualifica Centres, the adult may complete the remaining qualification units by attending existing training programmes, in one of the modalities already mentioned.

Evolution in the number of certifications (partial and total) from January 2017 to December 2024

Source: ANQEP and SIGO, 31st December 2025. Notes: In 2017, there was no data from certifications in other qualification options (EFA courses, FMC, certification by DL 357/2007 and CTC* courses), resulting from Qualifica Centre referrals. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 all certifications, total and partial, resulting from referrals from Qualifying Centres obtained through the RVCC process, EFA Courses, certification by DL 357/2007, CTC* and FMC are included.