Modes of standardisation for postgraduate teaching in economics in a semi-peripheral country: the case of Portugal

Abstract

Since the first postgraduate program in economics was created in Portugal in 1978, there has been a marked standardisation in the provision of this training. A narrowing of the curricula took place around an increasingly restricted number of courses that may be called ‘core’, excluding or relegating a wide variety of courses to peripheral areas of economics or to other fields, reducing the chances of pluralist teaching in economics. As this process happened throughout the world, we examine how it took place in Portugal through interviews with those responsible for the said programs. Classifying the modes of dissemination into emulation, coercion, and normative we conclude that imitation of what are considered the best practices in the Anglo-Saxon world can best explain the initial stage of standardisation. Recently, as institutions sought national and international recognition for postgraduate programs, coercion and normative followed in the form of assessment and certification processes.