Academic ranks (Portugal and Brazil)

Academic ranks in Portugal and Brazil are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia.

Overview

In Portugal, France, Italy, Romania and Latin America (Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking), the term professor and teacher translate the same ("professor" / "professeur" / "professore" / "profesor") thus it is used for anyone teaching at a school, institute, technical school, vocational school, college or university, regardless of the level of the subject matter taught or the level or ages of students. This includes instructors at the grade/elementary school, middle school and high school levels. However, a professor who teaches at a university is specifically called "professor universitário" ("university professor"), but it is common to call university professors just "professor".

As subtypes of professors the following are distinguished:

• Professor Catedrático (Portugal) / Professor Titular (Brazil): Full Professor. It is the highest faculty position.
• Professor Associado, Adjunto, Auxiliar: Various intermediary professorship levels, depending on country and if it's a state or federal university; see academic ranks for details.
• Professor Substituto: It is a short-term contract for replacement of Professors on maternity leave, sabbatical years or other temporary situations.
• Professor Visitante: The same as Visiting Professor. Usually conducts research as an obligation from its contract and so needs a PhD.

Portugal

• Professor Catedrático, equivalent to full professor
• Professor Associado, equivalent to associate professor
• Professor Auxiliar, equivalent to assistant professor

Both Professor Associado and Professor Auxiliar may have Agregação, while that extra degree is mandatory to all applicants to the rank of Professor Catedrático. This is an additional degree to which one can apply to usually years after the PhD (similar to the French Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches). Agregação is a two days exam based on curriculum vitae evaluation and a public lecture, where the candidate is evaluated by secret vote by a large number of other full professors where the professors insert a white or a black sphere into a bag according to his or her decision.

The 3 ranks of professors may also be held by invited professors, according to the rank, coming from out of the university.

Portuguese universities still have some few other teaching staff in two ranks not holding a PhD. These two ranks have been extinguished in 2009 and will vanish after all the ongoing contracts terminate in the next few years.

• Assistente, equivalent to assistant lecturer (without a PhD), normally someone who is simultaneously doing a PhD and holding a master's degree. Only teaches practical (or lab) classes.
• Assistente Estagiário, equivalent to a junior teaching assistant. It used to be the start of the teaching career until 2009 and already extremely rare to find since the Bologna agreement. They are typically graduate students and only teach practical (lab) classes.

Brazil

Federal level

In the federal universities the academic ranks receive other names:(In Portuguese)

• Professor Titular - equivalent to a "full professor" in the US.
• Professor Associado, levels A, B, C and D (or I, II, III, IV) - must hold a doctorate; equivalent to an "associate professor" in the US
• Professor Adjunto, levels A, B, C and D (or I, II, III, IV) - must hold a doctorate; equivalent to an "assistant professor" in the US
• Professor Assistente, levels A, B, C and D (or I, II, III, IV) - must hold a master's or equivalent degree
• Professor Auxiliar, levels A, B, C and D (or I, II, III, IV) - only a bachelor's degree is required

More information: (In Portuguese)

State level

At the state universities the academic rank system is:

• Professor Titular (MS-6): equivalent to a "full professor" in the US
• Professor Associado (MS-5): must hold a Livre Docente title (equivalent to a German Habilitation)
• Professor Adjunto (MS-3): must hold a doctorate; equivalent to an "assistant professor" in the US
• Professor Assistente (MS-2): must hold a master's or equivalent degree
• Auxiliar de Ensino (MS-1): only a bachelor's degree is required

Research-only

More recently academic posts for researchers that do not necessarily involve teaching have appeared.

References