 For ISEL itself, this change could represent an emancipation from the limited polytechnic system, which has been regarded as a minor higher education subsystem in Portugal (although by the mid-2000s with many upgrades and the Bologna process, the formal differences are less notorious), due to limitations that were imposed by State Education Laws on polytechnics (such as the professor's career, the professor's wages, the State funds spending and the teaching competences of the polytechnics).The Porto Superior Institute of Engineering (ISEP) was never merged into the University of Porto (or one of its predecessor schools, the Polytechnic Academy).The original proposal was dropped, partially because the University of Porto has owned its own engineering school since 1911 - the "Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto", known as "Faculdade de Engenharia" since 1926, unlike the University of Lisbon.