Changes in the governmental policies aiming at restructuring the Portuguese Higher Education system and institutions have been, over the last years, defined under the influence of New Public Management. External pressures induced by these reforms translate the attempts to create a new institutional environment particularly by changing professionals and organizational cultures. In this context, actors with managerial positions are those over whom more pressures for change are exerted, mainly because they are seen as leaders who have a strong influence over other professionals and can, in this way, promote more acceptable and convergent changes in higher education institutions. This study aims to analyse the attitudes, values and identities of Portuguese deans in the context of increasing state managerial pressures based on a qualitative study with 26 interviews of heads/deans from four public higher education institutions in Portugal. Data analysis allows us to conclude that deans identify homogeneous pressures in the institutional environment and perceive several changes in their managerial roles. Nevertheless, the majority of them still feel like academics and reject the idea of restringing their roles or their positions only to management.