The opinion article by Joaquim Brigas addresses the concentration of higher education in the coastal zones of Portugal, a topic that the author considers harmful to the country. Coastalization refers to the phenomenon of higher education institutions being mostly located on the coast, to the detriment of inland regions.
The author argues that, if territorial cohesion is effectively a national objective, then policies on quotas, scholarships, and funding for higher education cannot ignore the structural inequalities that inland institutions already face from the outset.
Joaquim Brigas defends that the unequal distribution of higher education institutions contributes to perpetuating asymmetries between coastal and inland regions, which goes against the objective of territorial cohesion. The article is an opinion piece that alerts to the need to address these inequalities when defining educational policies.
