The Portuguese Government has defined education and training as essential foundations for the country’s competitiveness and development. In this sense, a set of measures and public policies has been developed to promote the qualification of Portuguese people – in particular for young people, the most affected age group by the economic crisis that shook Portugal between 2009 and 2013, a period in which youth unemployment reached significantly higher values.

The priorities consist of: providing equal access conditions and access opportunities to education and training, namely through the National Programme for School Success Promotion, with measures identified by each school group/single school in the their respective Strategic Action Plan, and to prevent early school leaving; promoting the modernisation, qualification and diversification of higher education, with strengthening measures for social action and international mobility programmes; and ensuring a bigger investment in education and training of young people and adults, in particular through the launch of the Qualifica programme, with offers in the area of training and dual certification aimed at young NEET, among others, in an interinstitutional logic with the Youth Guarantee.