In 1935, Vergílio Correia was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Coimbra. He initially graduated in Law (1911), but transitioned to academia in 1921, becoming a professor of Aesthetics and Art History, succeeding Joaquim Martins Teixeira de Carvalho (1861-1921) and leaving his legal career behind. He taught Archaeology (1923), History of Eastern Antiquity (1930) and History of Classical Antiquity (1930). His intellectual brilliance, particularly in historical studies, is well known, despite being largely self-taught.

His professional career was closely related to museology and museography. In 1929, he became the director of the Machado de Castro Museum, a position he held until his death, balancing it alongside his teaching duties. From 1933 onwards, he oversaw a major restructuring of the museum’s various buildings. This renovation focused on preserving the integrity of the structures while enhancing their architectural aesthetics and ensuring effective display of the exhibits. His emphasis on the museum's sculpture collection elevated the institution to one of the most important museums in Portugal, a distinction it holds to this day. Following a competitive recruitment examination, he was successively appointed as curator of the Portuguese Ethnological Museum (1912-1915) and the National Museum of Ancient Art (1915-1921). His work at the Portuguese Ethnological Museum, now known as the National Archaeological Museum, marked a pivotal moment in his scientific career, largely due to his close relationship with José Leite de Vasconcelos (1858-1941), the museum's founder and director. Vasconcelos deeply influenced him through their work on the museum’s archaeological and ethnographic collections, although Vergílio Correia demonstrated a notably different approach to archaeological research.

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