Leiria, Portugal, July 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The number of recent graduates in Electrical Engineering is insufficient to meet market needs, according to statements made to the Lusa news agency by business leaders and the head of the course at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

“The Leiria region, the nation, and even Europe still need more Electrical Engineering graduates. We graduate around 50 students every year, and we need additional graduates to meet demand."

"We always have a very large pool of applications and now we are seeing a change in companies' habits,” according to Carla Lopes, coordinator of the Electrical Engineering degree course at the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

Companies now go beyond contacting the school; they “show up at project presentations to recruit students directly,” she explained.

Carla Lopes said that the number of students in this area is impacted by their performance on the compulsory entrance exams in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, adding that strong results in the latter subject “limit entry into Electrical Engineering”.

However, the coordinator stated that, given the limited manpower in this area, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation has modified the entrance exams, and in this first phase of access to higher education, students are only required to take mathematics as a compulsory subject.

The demand for graduates in this area has increased in recent years, as “the needs of the technology industry are changing very quickly”, with a greater focus on electronics applied to industry and artificial intelligence.

“The industry is hungry for this knowledge, and we have prepared our students accordingly. Until a few years ago, automation and robotics were what they [business leaders] asked for most. Still, today they are asking for electronics applied to automation, highly electronic robotics,” he noted.

Artificial intelligence has spread across all areas, and companies also “reflect” this trend in their needs. For example, the field of mechanics alone “cannot cover electronics”, not least because “nowadays, all sensors in industry must be interconnected and centralised in the cloud”.

Carla Lopes pointed out that electrical engineering covers areas such as energy, telecommunications, electronics and programming. “We work for the automotive industry, mobile and energy operators, and in audio and video coding. We now also have a strong component in the medical robotics department,” she said.

Paulo Cunha, the production director at Fase Criativa, an electrical installation company, confirmed that finding qualified staff is challenging. “We contacted the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria to hire a recent graduate to join our company as a site manager, but we could not finalise the hire. This field currently has limited student numbers,” he acknowledged.

According to him, many companies are trying to recruit young graduates, and the available manpower is insufficient to meet the demand.

EST, an electrical services company, also requires additional operational manpower in the field, such as electricians and metal workers. "The TeSP [higher professional technician] courses have contributed to the market, but we need more of them," said the human resources director.

Filipa Gomes believes that they can ‘become more than electricians and use their talent fully".

"TeSPs are a valuable step toward the ideal solution. Students who choose not to continue their studies end up staying with us," she said.

EST has managed to recruit electrical engineers, but the human resources director acknowledged the shortage of qualified professionals.

"From the interviews we conduct, recent graduates expect to go abroad," she added.

EYC/ADB // ADB.

Lusa