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.

The two Universities that offer this MBA program hold the triple crown accreditation namely AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB.