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Polytechnic is one of the two sub-systems of higher education of Portugal, the other being a university education. The polytechnic higher education focuses on providing more practical trainings and profession-oriented, while university education has a strong theoretical basis and highly research-oriented. Polytechnic institutions only grant licentiate's and master's degrees, as opposed to universities granting doctor's degrees.
Polytechnic education focuses on education, management, technology, health and agriculture programs, although programs in other fields such as arts, sports, journalism, tourism and nautical science can be taught. Polytechnics are the sole providers of higher education programs in some fields like nursery, accounting and kindergarten educators. On the other hand, polytechnics do not have programs in law, medicine, architecture, economics and other subjects reserved for the university institutions.
The polytechnics emerged in the 1980s, through the transformation of already existing non-university higher education schools of teachers and agriculture, at the same time that entirely new schools in other fields were also being built. Later, other higher education schools, like the higher institutes of engineering, accounting and administration, the higher schools of nursery, nursing schools and the Nautical School, were also integrated in the polytechnic education.