What Piaget does

Instituto Piaget is a private Portuguese higher education cooperative (CRL) founded in 1979 and headquartered in Lisbon, operating 11 campuses across 3 continents — 4 in Portugal (Almada, Algarve, Gaia, Viseu) and 7 international campuses in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique. It functions as the parent entity of two polytechnic institutes (Instituto Politécnico Jean Piaget do Sul and Norte) and multiple schools, delivering a portfolio of CTeSP technical courses, bachelor's degrees (Licenciaturas), master's programs (Mestrados), and postgraduate specializations spanning education, health sciences, sports, technology, management, and social sciences.

The institution runs supporting infrastructure including the Insight research center (four research groups: Health, Education, Human Movement, Technology and Management), the SimSaúde health simulation center, the Inforestudante student portal, an SDI Online academic documentation system, the Revista Piaget institutional publication, and a Clínica Piaget at Gaia. Core technology is institutional management and academic information systems, with applied research in Extended Reality and AI through the European XR5.0 consortium.

Revenue is generated primarily through regulated annual tuition fees (Propinas) across undergraduate, master's, CTeSP, and postgraduate programs, supplemented by social action scholarships, Erasmus+ and EU project funding, and international cooperation/licensing of the Piaget methodology to franchised Lusophone campuses. Go-to-market is sales-led via Portugal's national institutional competition (concurso institucional) and isolated curricular unit applications, with direct student recruitment supported by candidate assistance services, educational fair participation (Qualifica, Futurália), and an active Instagram/web presence. Customer segments are horizontal — prospective students across education, health, sports, and professional development, with international students from Portuguese-speaking countries forming a meaningful secondary cohort. Revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

Piaget

Legal name

Instituto Piaget, Cooperativa para o Desenvolvimento Humano, Integral e Ecológico, CRL

Website

https://ipiaget.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Instituto Piaget is a Portuguese private higher education cooperative founded in 1979, operating 11 campuses across Portugal and five Lusophone countries, offering CTeSP, bachelor's, master's, and postgraduate programs in health, education, sports, technology, and social sciences to individual student consumers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Comprehensive Community Colleges (Transfer + Workforce) (EDAHADAE)

Keywords

• Higher education
• Polytechnic education
• Vocational training
• Research services
• Postgraduate education

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon (Headquarters)

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Tuition Fees (Propinas): Annual tuition fees charged to students for undergraduate, master's, CTeSP, and postgraduate programs. Fees vary by program and are regulated by institutional financial regulations.
2. Social Action and Scholarships: Bolsas do Instituto Piaget and other financial aid programs including merit scholarships, collaboration grants, and social support benefits.
3. International Cooperation: Revenue from international campus operations in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique through franchise/licensing model of the Piaget methodology.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Instituto Piaget is a private cooperative of higher education operating 11 campuses across three continents, offering technical higher professional courses (CTeSP), bachelor's degrees (Licenciaturas), master's degrees (Mestrados), and post-graduate programs (Pós-graduações) in health, education, sports, technology, management, and social sciences. The institution supplements teaching with the Insight Research Center, the SimSaúde health simulation center, online student services (Inforestudante and e-serviços), scholarship programs (Bolsas do Instituto Piaget), and franchise operations extending its methodology into Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique.

Product overview

Piaget Ensino Superior is a private higher education institution operating as a network of polytechnic institutes and campus locations across Portugal (Almada, Algarve, Gaia, Viseu) and internationally (Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique). The institution offers a comprehensive portfolio of educational products and services organized into four main pillars: CTeSP (technical higher professional courses), Licenciaturas (bachelor's degrees), Mestrados (master's degrees), and Pós-graduações (post-graduate programs). Supporting services include the Insight research center conducting investigations in Health, Education, Human Movement, and Technology; the Inforestudante online student portal; the Revista Piaget institutional publication; the Portal da Transparência for institutional transparency; and specialized services including a whistleblower reporting channel and qualification centers. The institution serves over 50,000 graduates and operates 11 campuses across 3 continents, offering approximately 100 courses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Insight - Centro de Investigação do Piaget: The research center of Instituto Piaget, covering areas of Health, Education, Human Movement, and Technology and Management.
• INSIGHT
• Instituto Politécnico Jean Piaget do Sul
• Instituto Politécnico Jean Piaget do Norte
• GAIVA
• SimSaúde
• Piaget Transfer
• Clínica Piaget

Products and services

• CTeSP (Cursos Técnicos Superiores Profissionais) Technical Higher Professional Courses providing vocational training with practical links to the job market, offered across all Piaget campuses (Almada, Algarve, Gaia, Viseu).
• Licenciaturas Bachelor's degree programs in areas including health, education, sports, technology, management, and social sciences, offered across multiple campuses in Portugal.
• Mestrados Master's degree programs offering advanced scientific, technical, and professional training in specialized areas such as education, health, sports, and pedagogy.
• Pós-graduações Post-graduate programs for professional updating, specialization, and career progression across various disciplines, including programs such as Pós-Graduação em Português Língua Não Materna, Pós-Graduação em Bibliotecas Escolares, Pós-Graduação em Treino de Alto Rendimento Desportivo, and Pós-Graduação em Supervisão Pedagógica e Avaliação em Educação.
• Insight — Centro de Investigação Research center conducting scientific investigation in areas of Health, Education, Human Movement, and Technology and Management, hosting post-doctoral research scholarships (Bolsas de Investigação Pós-Doutoral) and publishing the Germinare journal.
• Centro Qualifica de Macedo de Cavaleiros Qualification center providing vocational training and recognition of prior learning services at the Macedo de Cavaleiros location.
• Inforestudante Portal Online student portal providing access to course registration, academic services, and administrative procedures.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50,000+ graduated students across all campuses
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• RESILIA - Resilient Mental Health and Empowerment for Migrant WomencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025European project partnership focused on mental health and empowerment for migrant women in vulnerable contexts. Piaget promotes a European survey through the Insight research center targeting organizations working with migrant women.
• XR5.0 ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean consortium dedicated to Extended Reality (XR) and Artificial Intelligence solutions for Industry 5.0. Piaget's representation includes researchers Toacy Oliveira, António Rosinha, Joaquim Reis, and Savas Yaguzluk. The consortium's 5th General Assembly was hosted at TAP Air Portugal facilities in Lisbon.
• Phoenix TVminorGTM or Marketing PartnerInternational media coverage of Piaget's Traditional Chinese Medicine program by the major Chinese-language media group with global reach. The report highlights the unique position of Piaget as the only institution in Portugal offering this degree.
• Proteção Civil de SilvesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstitutional partnership for the 'Plante uma Árvore' environmental project focused on recovering degraded areas in Silves municipality. The civil protection authority defined the planting location at Herdade do São Bom Homem, a former municipal landfill.
• Viveiro Florestal de Monte GordominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental partnership providing 200 pine saplings (pinheiro-manso) for the reforestation initiative, supporting the 'Plante uma Árvore' project carried out with local kindergarten children.
• Comunidade Intermunicipal (CIM) Viseu Dão LafõescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional partnership included in the CIM's strategy for defense economy development, recognizing Piaget's specialized aeronautical training programs at professional and higher education levels for the region's aerospace sector development.
• Erasmus+ ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean mobility program enabling student and staff exchanges. Piaget participates in international weeks such as Erasmus Week 2026 in Poland with students from the Computer Engineering program.
• European Digital Education Hub (EDEH)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic initiative of the European Commission integrated in the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027. Piaget participated in the 'Collaborate for Impact' European meeting on digital education and AI.
• PRIME HYBRID Espinho Fitness RacingminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership with Portugal's first urban fitness racing event. Piaget faculty members João Noura and Gisele Magno participate in preparatory workshops on injury prevention and sports nutrition.
• European Association for Cancer Education (EACE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership hosting the 37th Annual Scientific Meeting at Piaget's Almada campus, bringing together specialists and researchers to discuss precision medicine in cancer education. The event culminated in the Lisbon Manifesto on Communication in Precision Oncology.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Universidade Fernando Pessoa: Portuguese private university with strong health sciences and polytechnic-style professional programs, comparable in size and program mix to Piaget's schools.
• Universidade da Maia (UNIMAIA): Portuguese private higher education institution operating across multiple campuses with similar applied/polytechnic program mix.
• Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa: Long-established Portuguese private university with comparable polytechnic and professional program breadth.
• Universidade Lusófona / COFAC: Largest Portuguese private higher education group, explicitly Lusophone-focused with extensive international campuses across Portuguese-speaking countries—direct conceptual analog to Piaget's cooperative-led, multi-country model.
• IADE - Universidade Europeia: Portuguese design, technology, and management school within the Laureate network, sharing Piaget's applied/professional higher education positioning.
• Universidade Lusíada: Portuguese private non-profit university with multi-campus presence in Lisbon, Porto, and Vila Nova de Famalicão offering polytechnic-adjacent professional programs.
• IPAM / Universidade Europeia (Laureate): Portuguese campus of the Laureate International Universities network offering business, marketing, and professional degrees under a global private education operator.

Broad incumbents

• Universidade Católica Portuguesa: Larger established Portuguese multi-campus Catholic university with postgraduate-heavy portfolio, comparable institutional scale and governance model.

Regional players

• Universidade Eduardo Mondlane: Largest public university in Mozambique—directly relevant given Piaget's UniPiaget Moçambique campus operation in the same market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ipiaget
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/institutopiaget

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Piaget