Higher Education Admissions Rise Nearly 15 Percent This Year
Over 52,000 students secured places in Portuguese universities and polytechnics through the national higher education access contest (concurso nacional de acesso), marking a 14.8% increase over last year. Data released by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation showed that 92.5% of the 56,228 available vacancies were filled across three application phases. Approximately 31,000 candidates entered university programmes, while nearly 21,000 were admitted to polytechnic institutes.
The national access competition (Concurso Nacional de Acesso) is Portugal’s central system for allocating undergraduate university places each year, using applicants’ secondary-school grades, entry exams and course-specific criteria. For 2026/27 an extra 21,500 places will be available through special access regimes and competitions (with recent additions to medicine — 62 places from UTAD’s new course and increases at Coimbra); applicants should check the annual deadlines and specific entry rules with the national admissions authority.
