While its early years focused on graduate and specialist programs, NOVA started expanding its teaching and research from 1977 onwards.

The structure of NOVA was organized according to a departmental and interdisciplinary model, where each of the Academic Units enjoy a great deal of autonomy.

In 2013, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FC&T) evaluated 75% of NOVA R&D Units with "Exceptional", "Excellent" or "Very Good".

The Lisbon MBA is a partnership between NOVA, Catholic University of Portugal and MIT Sloan School of Management.

[citation needed] The Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 Rankings 2015 placed NOVA as the 89th best university in the world under 50 years old.