Legally residing in Portugal at 31st of August of the year in which you intend to enrol in higher education for more than two years, continuously, or if you are family of foreign citizens that hold a resident permit for more than two years
You can apply for the 1st cycle:
through a national call to enrol a public institution of higher education;
through a institutional call at any private Higher Education institution.
Do you have final exams that may replace the Portuguese final exams?
IF YES:
Most Portuguese of Higher Education Institutions’ accept foreign exams and final grades, if they are national or nationwide recognized, in replacement of the Portuguese national secondary school leaving exams;
If your exams are accepted you do not need to make any other admission exam!
The foreign exams must have the same designation as the Portuguese national exams.
These exams are valid for the year that they were performed and for the two next years (ex: exams performed in 2018, valid for 2018, 2019, and 2020).
The certificate of the foreign exam must provide information on the grades, the grading scale and the minimum grade of that grading scale (positive scale).
Please note that this certificate must be stamped and signed by the home Institutions or by the Portuguese diplomatic authorities.
The same goes with official translation if the certificate, is not written in Portuguese, English, French or Spanish.
Please be aware that some Higher Education Institutions may ask for certain prerequisites to access to their courses.
You will have to register in a secondary school in Portugal for performing national secondary school leaving exams, in the areas required for the course you wish to enroll and by the Institution (ex: Mathematic, Chemistry, Biology, Physic, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Philosophy, Geology…)
You should also check all accredited and registered courses in the courses list.
You help you prepare you can check the last exams at IAVE website.
Please be aware that some Higher Education Institutions may ask for certain prerequisites to access to their courses.
Degrees
Both university and polytechnic institutions award the degree of licenciado (bachelor). In polytechnic education, the cycle of studies that leads to the degree of licenciado has 180 credits and a normal length of six curricular semesters of students’ work. In certain cases namely those covered by internal legislation or by European legislation, the cycle of studies can have up to 240 credits with a normal length of up to seven or eight curricular semesters of students’ work.
In university education, the cycle of studies that leads to the degree of licenciado (bachelor) has from 180 to 240 credits and a normal length between six to eight curricular semesters of students’ work.
In the first cycle of studies the degree of licenciado (bachelor) is awarded, by universities or polytechnics institutions, to those that, after concluding all the curricular units that integrate the study programme of the licenciatura (bachelor) course, have obtained the established number of credits.
