Study in Portugal
Study at Portugal’s top universities.
Portugal was founded in 1143, being one of the oldest countries in Europe. Until the 5th October 1910, when the foundations of the Modern Portuguese Republic were laid, the Portuguese monarchy had developed a long history of discoveries and conquests in Africa, India and Brazil. In 1926, the parliamentary regime was replaced by a military dictatorship leading to the formation of the Estado Novo in 1933. Democracy was restored 41 years later, on the 25th April 1974, through a nearly bloodless coup, later nicknamed the Revolution of the Carnations, which are still a national symbol of freedom. In the following years, mostly as a consequence of the restoration of democracy, independence was granted to some of Portugal’s last colonies: São Tomé & Principe, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Cape Verde.
Portugal is a Parliamentary Republic. The President is directly elected by universal adult suffrage every 5 years. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament. Since 1975 the party system is dominated by the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) and Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata). Other political parties include: Bloco de Esquerda, Partido Comunista Português, CDS/Partido Popular.
The Portuguese Higher Education system has been undergoing a profound reform, in accordance with the European-wide strategy for the modernisation of Higher Education promoting the knowledge-based economy and society. A series of measures have been introduced in the last years for the accomplishment of what is known as the Bologna Process, namely with the aim to widen access to Higher Education, particularly for new publics, guaranteeing quality evaluation, modernising and internationalising Higher Education.
Higher Education is divided into three cycles of studies. Generic qualification descriptors were also defined for each of the cycles of studies, based on acquired competences, as well as the structure for the first and second cycles of study in terms of typical ECTS intervals.
Higher Education in Portugal is divided into two sub-systems, university education and polytechnic education.
The network of public Higher Education Institutions comprises 14 Universities, 20 Polytechnic Institutes and 6 institutions of military and police Higher Education.
The network of private Higher Education Institutions comprises 36 Universities and 64 Polytechnic Institutes
Students seeking to study first cycle (undergraduate) degrees at universities and polytechnics in Portugal, must:
- have completed upper secondary education
- have passed the university entrance examination in their home country
- meet the study program pre-requisites if required. A pre-requisite is a subject any applicant must meet before being allowed to register for a course. For example, students seeking to study music in Portugal, will be required to pass an aptitude exam in music.
- To learn whether you need to pass a specific course before registering for the study program of your choice, you may contact an advisor at any of the Higher Education Admissions Offices (“Gabinetes de Acceso”)
Master’s studies (second cycle)
If you are applying for a master’s program at university in Portugal, you are required to be in possession of a relevant bachelor’s or equivalent degree diploma.
Doctoral studies (third cycle)
In the event you are applying for doctoral studies at university in Portugal, you are required to be in possession of a relevant diploma or master’s degree program.
Language requirements for studies at universities and colleges in Portugal
Portuguese
Since the language of instruction at Portuguese universities and colleges is Portuguese, you are required to prove your level of command of the Portuguese language. You may do so by presenting the results you received at school examinations if you studied Portuguese as part of your study program or by presenting Portuguese language courses diplomas.
In general, most institutions require a minimum level of command corresponding to the B1/B2 level according to the European language passport. Please, note that the Portuguese language requirement usually applies to studies at the first cycle (undergraduate). Master’s and research programs may not require any knowledge of Portuguese since they are often designed for international students.
If you still need or want to improve your level of knowledge of Portuguese, you may want to take any of the Portuguese language courses organized by universities and polytechnics in Portugal for their own international students.
Minimum grade point requirement to access higher education studies in Portugal
Each year, the Portuguese Ministry of Education publishes the number of available study places (called vagas) at public universities and polytechnics. Private institutions in Portugal have limited study places as well. This is the reason why applicants are ranked based on their grade point average from their previous studies. Therefore, always check with your Portuguese school about the minimum passing grade you need to meet, specially if you are applying for first cycle (undergraduate) programs.
The academic year has two semesters. The first semester begins in the first fortnight of September, ending in January for the 1st examination period, which goes on until the beginning of February.
The second semester begins in February and goes on until the end of May/beginning of June (depending on the Faculty), when the second examination period starts. This examination period lasts one month and ends in July.
Those from countries outside the EU/ EEA who intend to study in Portugal for longer than three months must apply for a residence visa (‘visto para residencia’) before entering the country. This can be applied for through your nearest Portuguese embassy or consulate, and requires:
- A completed application form
- Letter of acceptance from a Portuguese university
- Photocopy of key passport pages
- Passport-sized photos
- Police record of good conduct
- Copy of health insurance
- Proof of sufficient funds – either a bank statement or grant/scholarship
Those from within the EU should apply for an EU citizen residence card within four months of arriving in Portugal.
Portuguese is the official language of Portugal. Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Northern Portugal, originating from Galician-Portuguese, which was the common language of the Galician and Portuguese people until the independence of Portugal. Particularly in the North of Portugal, there are still many similarities between the Galician culture and the Portuguese culture. Galicia is a consultative observer of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. According to the Ethnologue of Languages, Portuguese and Spanish have a lexical similarity of 89% – educated speakers of each language can communicate easily with one another.
The Portuguese language is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago—particularly the Celts, Tartessians, Lusitanians and Iberians. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the language spread worldwide as Portugal established a colonial and commercial empire between 1415 and 1999. Portuguese is now spoken as a native language in five different continents, with Brazil accounting for the largest number of native Portuguese speakers of any country (200 million speakers in 2012).
In 2013 the Portuguese language is the official language spoken in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, and East Timor. These countries, plus Macau Special Administrative Region (People’s Republic of China) where Portuguese is co-official with Cantonese, make up the Lusosphere, a term derived from the ancient Roman province of “Lusitania”, which currently matches the Portuguese territory south of the Douro river.
Mirandese is also recognized as a co-official regional language in some municipalities of North-Eastern Portugal. An estimate of between 6,000 and 7,000 Mirandese speakers has been documented for Portugal.