 In Portugal, university and college attendance before the 1960s, including for the period of Portuguese monarchy which ended in 1910, and for most of the Estado Novo regime (1920s - 1974), was very limited to the tiny elites, like members of the bourgeoisie and high ranked political and military authorities.In addition, there were few institutions of higher education, low levels of secondary education attainment, and a high illiteracy rate for Western European standards.However, during the last decade of the Estado Novo regime, from the 1960s to the 1974 Carnation Revolution, secondary and university education experienced the fastest growth of Portuguese education's history.