Access to Portuguese public higher education, whether university or polytechnic, requires students to apply to the National Competition for Access to Higher Education. The competition is valid for the year in which it takes place. The deadlines for the acts that make up the National Competition for Access to Higher Education are set by an order from the Director-general of Higher Education.
The National Competition for Access to Higher Education is organized in three stages.
To apply to the National Competition for Access to Higher Education the candidate must:
1. Hold a Secondary Education Course, or legally equivalent qualification;
2. Have taken admission exams in 2020 and/or 2021 and/or 2022
(according to deliberation 1043/2021 published in the DR no. 199, 2nd series, of 13 October, states that starting in the 2022/2023 school year, the national final exams of secondary education can be used as admission exams for the application to enrollment in higher education in the year they are taken and in the following four years);
3. Satisfy the prerequisites, if required for the institution/course pair;
4. Have an application classification equal to or higher than the minimum value set for the institution/course pair.
With the approval of the International Student Statute, through Decree-Law no. 36/2014, of 10 March, amended by Decree-Law no. 113/2014, of 16 July, and Decree-Law no. 62/2018, of 6 August, a special competition for access to higher education was created for international students, who should enter Portuguese higher education exclusively through this new form.
Thus, the following can apply through the general admission conditions:
- Portuguese citizens;
- Nationals of a member state of the European Union;
- Family members of Portuguese nationals or of nationals of a member state of the European Union, regardless of their nationality;
- Those who, not being nationals of a member state of the European Union, have been residing legally in Portugal for more than two years, continuously, on 1 January of the year in which they wish to enter higher education, as well as their children residing with them; the time of residence for study is not relevant for this purpose;
- The beneficiaries, on 1 January of the year they wish to enter higher education, of the equal rights and duties status granted under an international treaty signed between the Portuguese State and the State of which they are nationals;
See the Regulations for the National Competition for Access and Admission to Public Higher Education for registration and enrollment on the DGES website.
Study | General Regime | General Admission Conditions
