06 - Portugal - Admission requirements
Entrance to a school or course of higher education is subject to restrictions due to the maximum
number of places available, which is fixed annually.
The places available for entrance to a state higher education course, controlled exclusively by the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, are fixed and published annually by the
authorities of the institutions involved, accompanied by the respective justification. Reasons such as
adapting education policy may mean that the number of vacancies proposed is changed after hearing
the opinion of the respective school of higher education.
In the case of schools subject to dual control, authority to fix places lies with the ministers in control. In
the case of private and co-operative teaching, authority to fix the number of places available lies with
the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, at the proposal of the competent authorities
in the institutions of higher education.
Within the scope of national tests for access to higher education, each school of higher education sets
the tests it demands for entrance to each of its courses, for which it may use national upper secondary
education exams. The final decision rests with the National Committee for Access to Higher Education
– (Comissão Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Superior - CNAES).
Pre-requisites are regulated for each school of higher education, and the CNAES is responsible for
approval, as well as for co-ordinating the whole process.
The application system encompasses different stages: the admission, selection and ordering
requirements of candidates and placement.
Each applicant may put forward six options in terms of school/course.
Pupils may apply for the entrance test providing they fulfil the following conditions:
• They have passed an upper secondary education course or have legally equivalent
qualifications;
• They have done the national upper secondary education exams in the disciplines selected for
the entrance test for each school/course, or the tests expressly selected for this purpose, and
obtained the minimum mark fixed by law;
• They meet the pre-requisites if and when these are required for the school/course to which
application is being made;
They have an application mark equal to or higher than the minimum fixed mark.
•
The selection of applicants for each course in each school is based on:
• Entrance tests in which the minimum mark, fixed annually, must be obtained;
• Pre-requisites, if demanded;
• The application form, on which the minimum mark, fixed annually, must be obtained.
Applicants will be placed in the order of their marks which includes:
• Final classification in upper secondary education worth no less than 50%;
• Classification of entrance test or tests, with a percentage of no less than 35%;
Classification of pre-requisites when demanded, with a proportion of no more than 15%.
The application mark is a classification on a scale of 0 to 200, calculated to the last tenth, a tenth being
a figure no less than 0.05, by applying a specific formula.
Implementing the national competition for application to places vacant in higher education is the
responsibility of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Regional
Directorates of Education.
The application process for higher education is monitored by the National Committee for Access to
Higher Education (CNAES) responsible for the management and co-ordination of the whole process of
assessing the capacity to attend a course, fixing the criteria for selection and placing applicants in
higher education. CNAES has 7 members: 2 representing state universities, 2 representing state
institutos politécnicos; 3 representing private and co-operative schools of higher education (Decree-
Law n.º 296-A/98, 25th of September, amended by the Decree-Law n.º 45/07, 23rd of February) ;
Some places are reserved in each course for:
• Applicants from the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira;
• Portuguese emigrant applicants and members of their family living with them;
• Applicants who are in active military service either as volunteers or under contract;
• Applicants who are physically handicapped.
There are other application schemes, such as special contests, for applicants in special situations:
• Applicants over the age of 23;
• Applicants who have higher, post-secondary and intermediate courses;
• Applicants from other national or international systems of higher education.
Places for each of these contests are fixed by the reitor of each university, by the president of the
institution, in institutos politécnicos, and in other schools by the chairman of the directive body or the
director, this should be communicated to the Directorate-General of Higher Education.
Access to state higher education, covered by special schemes, covers students who are in the
following situations:
• Portuguese civil servants on diplomatic missions abroad and their families, if they accompany
them abroad;
• Portuguese citizens with a scholarship abroad or civil servants on an official mission and their
families if they accompany them abroad;
• Permanent staff in the Armed Forces within the ambit of fulfilling the specific Armed Forces
training;
• National scholarship holders from the Portuguese speaking African countries, within the
framework of cooperation agreements signed by the Portuguese State;
• Foreign civil servants on diplomatic mission accredited in Portugal and their families resident in
Portugal under a reciprocal regime;
• Athletes with an outstanding record in competition or integrated into preparation for high-level
competition referred to by Decree-Law No. 125/95, 30th of May, amended by Decree-Law No.
123/93, 10th of August, regulated by Ordinance No. 947/95, 1st of August;
• Students who are nationals and children of nationals of East Timor.
Re-admittance, transfers and changes of course are permitted between public higher education
establishments overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and private and
cooperative higher education establishments and vice-versa, subject to limitations and in line with the
rules established by each higher education institution.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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