This text focuses on vocational education as a strategic training path for national development. It revisits the evolution of vocational education identifying disconnects between graduate study and basic education and proposing new links in a chain which should constitute a formative axis that starts from basic education and is able to progress through to the doctorate level for professionals. It defends the strategic role of graduate education, which is fundamental in training professionals for various sectors of society and is particularly important for the training teachers. Furthermore, the graduate level provides a space for reflection and for the practice of new learning and teaching designs, not only in order to reinvent itself, but also to contribute to educational solutions for lower levels of education and, in particular, for the world of work.