Maputo, Sept. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal has awarded around 2,700 scholarships to Mozambican students over the last 50 years, with 292 having been placed this year at Portuguese higher education institutions through the special admissions scheme, according to figures released on Monday.
The figures were revealed during a meeting with new Mozambican scholarship holders in Maputo, as part of the cooperation between the two countries, which this year involves 17 students selected to study for bachelor's and master's degrees in Portugal.
«The Portuguese State has already awarded around 2,700 scholarships to Mozambican students,» said Portugal's ambassador in Maputo, Jorge Monteiro, referring to the last five decades, since Mozambique's independence and the consolidation of Portuguese democracy.
According to the diplomat, the scholarships have covered different levels of study, including bachelor's, master's, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes, in fields considered relevant to Mozambique's development.
Of this year's 17 new scholarship recipients, supported by the Camões Institute, eight will be undertaking bachelor's degrees and nine master's degrees, seven of which are in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The students are from Maputo, Nampula, Niassa and Sofala and are due to depart for Portugal on 28 September.
«This year we have 17 scholarship recipients who will benefit from grants from the Camões Institute, of whom eight will undertake bachelor's degree programmes in Portugal and nine will undertake master's degree programmes,» said Jorge Monteiro.
The students will attend institutions such as the Nova University of Lisbon, ISCTE, the University of Beira Interior, the University of Minho, the University of the Algarve and the University of Évora.
The Director-General of the Mozambican Institute for Study Grants (IBE), Carla Coamba, said that, in addition to the 17 scholarship holders from the Camões Institute programme, around 292 students were admitted this year to Portuguese higher education through the special admissions scheme, out of a total of over 1,000 applicants.
«Nationwide, we have placed around 292 students out of a total of more than 1,000 applicants we had this year,» said Carla Coamba, adding that more than 187 students are expected to travel to Portugal for technical and vocational training.
Among the new scholarship recipients is Felizardo Marques, from Nampula in northern Mozambique, who will be studying for a Master's degree in Medical Parasitology at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, following around three years' experience teaching technical and vocational subjects and working as a teaching assistant at Nampuls's Lúrio University.
«The aim is to strengthen Mozambique's capacity in the areas of diagnosis, epidemiological surveillance and the prevention of endemic and neglected diseases,» he told Lusa, highlighting the application of the knowledge acquired in the fields of malaria and parasitic diseases.
Another scholarship recipient is Xabuca Santos António, a pharmacist who graduated from Lúrio University, who will be studying for a Master's degree in Biotechnology at the University of Beira Interior, in Covilhã, with a focus on the applications of this field to agriculture and health, after beginning his professional career in 2022 in pharmaceutical management.
He aims to deepen his knowledge of biotechnology applicable to agriculture and health, including research into plants found in Mozambique to identify molecules with pharmaceutical potential and the development of solutions for crops that are more resistant to drought.
Portuguese development co-operation also provides scholarships for students at Mozambican institutions and at the Portuguese School of Mozambique, as well as support for access to higher education in Portugal.
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