Online Transparency and Accountability in HEIs: the case of the Portuguese Public Polytechnic Institutes

This paper aims to further contribute to the discussion of the importance of online transparency and accountability in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the context of increasing societal interest in how public institutions are managed and how they use public funds. The paper is dedicated to assessing the degree of transparency in the schools of 15 Portuguese Public Polytechnic Institutes based on the content of their institutional websites. To this purpose, we employed the “Global Transparency Index” (GTI), adjusted to Portuguese reality. Our findings suggest that there is still room for improvement in terms of transparency, such as the need for specific information about the polytechnic institutes, particularly about their president’s schedule, and the need for greater accessibility of teacher contact information. However, the study also finds that the Portuguese Polytechnic Institutes excel in providing e-services and ensuring that their websites are user-friendly, well-designed, and accessible.