Lisbon, June 29, 2026 (Lusa) - Portuguese higher education is attracting an increasing number of international students, particularly in technical and vocational courses and integrated master’s programmes, where the number of international students has more than tripled over the last decade, according to the InfoCursos website.
Over the past decade, the number of foreign students in higher education has increased across all educational programmes, according to data from the portal managed by the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC), released on Monday by the ministry of education, science and innovation.
In Higher Technical and Vocational Courses (CTeSP), which are attracting an increasing number of students, the proportion of non-Portuguese nationality rose from 4.9% to 18.7% in the last academic year.
In bachelor’s degree programmes, the increase was less significant: in the 2015/2016 academic year, the figure stood at 8.8%, whilst in 2024/2025 it was 13.5%.
In integrated master’s programmes, the proportion of non-Portuguese students rose from 5.5% to 18.4%.
There has also been an increase in second-cycle master’s programmes, from 18% to 26.2% over the last ten years.
The vast majority of international students studying in Portugal do not do so solely through cooperation programmes, such as Erasmus, or as part of independent mobility schemes to complete just part of their degree course, according to data provided by the ministry of education, science and innovation.
The figures released today also show that, over the last four years, there has been an increase in the number of students who managed to gain a place on the bachelor’s degree programme of their choice, which they had selected as their first choice.
Fewer and fewer students are also deciding to change their course. Over the last decade, there has been a gradual decrease in the percentage of pupils in the state education system who applied for a transfer, from 6.4% in the 2015/2016 academic year to 4.8% in 2024/2025. This trend was broken only in the 2020/2021 academic year, when there was a slight increase.
InfoCursos was updated today, providing information on 6,319 courses for students wishing to enter higher education.
On the portal, it is possible to see, course by course, how many have enrolled over the last five years, ages, their status after starting the course, course completion rates and the number of recent graduates registered with the unemployment office, amongst other data.
Applications for the first phase of the National Higher Education Admissions Process for the coming academic year will be open from 20 July to 6 August.
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