The Performance Evaluation of Polytechnic Higher Education Institutions: Tensions and Reconfigurations Resulting from the Adoption of Specific Metrics

Aligned with the binary structure of the higher education system in Portugal, divided into universities and polytechnics, the Government acknowledged, in 2014, the need to identify distinct performance indicators/metrics aiming at a more accurate assessment of the effect and quality of the action developed by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). For the Polytechnic Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) it was necessary to define «(...) performance indicators that address the production, transfer and diffusion of knowledge» (FCT, 2014: 1), aiming to measure «(...) the applied research and the cultural production activities as well as their impact on the region where they [PHEIs] are located…