Branches of study

The bachelor’s degree (licenciado) is awarded at universities and polytechnics and corresponds to level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework ational Qualifications Framework (Quadro Nacional de Qualificações - QNQ) and the European Qualifications Framework.

In university education, the study cycle leading to a licenciado degree has 180 to 240 ECTS credits and normally lasts between six and eight semesters. When establishing the number of credits, similar figures are used to benchmark institutions of this type of education in Europe in the same scientific areas.

In university education, the scientific areas that have more licenciado degrees are social sciences, business and law, arts and humanities and the sciences, mathematics and computer science, while polytechnics tend to offer studies in the areas of health and social work, followed by social sciences, as well as engineering, manufacturing and construction.

In polytechnic education, this cycle of studies has 180 credits and normally lasts six semesters or, exceptionally, when it is mandatory to grant access to a specific professional activity, 240 credits and a time span of up to seven or eight semesters.

In polytechnic education the study cycle that leads to a licenciado degree should emphasise training focussed on professional practice.

Admission requirements

According to the general procedure, students who meet the following requirements can apply for admission to a particular course and higher education institution (HEI):

• having passed a upper secondary education course that meets the requirements for further studies, if any, or be a holder of a legally equivalent qualification;
• having passed the entrance exams required for both the course/HEI with a grade equal or higher than the established minimum;
• satisfying the pre-requisites, if established for the institution/course pair;
• not to be covered by international student status. 

In addition to the general access system, there is also a special application for candidates with specific characteristics that allow new sections of the population to have access higher education, extending the rationale of lifelong learning to such institutions:

• adults over 23 years old who have passed exams attesting to their capacity to attend higher education.
• holders of a technical higher education diploma
• holders of a technological specialisation diploma
• holders of other HE diplomas.
• holders of first-cycle degree giving access to medicine.
• international students.
• holders of upper secondary dual certification course and specialised artistic courses.

With the approval of the International Student Statute, via Decree-Law No. 36/2014, 10 March, in its current version, a special application process for access to higher education was created for international students, who may enter the Portuguese higher education exclusively through this new way

As such, through the general system, can apply:

• Portuguese citizens;
• citizens of a member state of the European Union;
• family members of Portuguese nationals or nationals of a member state of the European Union, regardless of their nationality;
• beneficiaries, on 1 January of the year in which they intend to enter higher education,  of equal rights and duties status granted according to an international treaty between the Portuguese State and the State of which they are a national;
• those applying to enter higher education via special schemes.

The number of places available for each course is established annually by higher education institutions (HEIs).

Applications for public higher education via the general access system occurs annually through a national application system organised by the former Directorate-General for Higher Education, now Institute for Higher Education (Instituto para o Ensino Superior - IES, I.P.).

Applications for private higher education via the general access system occur through institutional applications organised by each HEI.

The application procedure for higher education (selection criteria, evaluation of capacity to attend, and ranking of applicants for higher education) is monitored by the National Commission on Access to Higher Education (Comissão Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Superior - CNAES).

Within the established legal limits their own procedures, HEIs credit the following aspects for degree courses:

• education provided in other HE cycles or non-degree courses in domestic or foreign HEIs;
• education acquired on specialised technological courses;
• stand-alone courses;
• duly proven professional experience and other training.

Higher education institutions have greater autonomy, compared to the past, in managing the number of places available through various access routes, without sacrificing the fundamental principles of the system. The number of places in each study cycle is set annually by higher education institutions, within the scope of their autonomy, and must respect the maximum admission limits defined in the accreditation process of study cycles by the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior - A3ES). The allocation of places follows guidelines and limits defined by an annual government decree (guiding decree for the allocation of places), which regulates the distribution of places between the general access regime, special competitions, and special access regimes. This framework ensures that the total number of students admitted does not exceed the accredited capacity of the study cycles and maintains the stability of the offer in the general access regime. The most recent changes to the guidelines for setting the number of available places have strengthened the autonomy of institutions in managing these places, simplified the applicable rules, and introduced greater flexibility in the use of installed capacity across different access routes, within the limits defined in the accreditation process.

Curriculum

HEIs have the scientific and pedagogical autonomy to create their own study cycles, draft the respective curricula and define the subject of course units.

For the study cycle leading to a bachelor’s (licenciado) degree in basic education, the training components are legally established, as are the aims and the relative weight of each.

The study cycles leading to a licenciado degree in the areas of nursing, health technologies and non-conventional therapies are also bound to a particular structure and legally established content.

The education provided, in terms of scientific level, is one of the parameters of the quality assessment process regarding the study cycles applied by the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES).

HEIs can decide to use foreign languages, partially or entirely, in the teaching of their study cycles, as well as for writing project work and internship reports.

Teaching methods

As part of their pedagogical autonomy, HEIs are competent to determine the teaching methods used in the cycle of studies that leads to the Licenciado degree. 

With the implementation of the legal regime pursuant to the Bologna Process there has been a transition from an education system based on the transmission of knowledge, to a system based on the development of student competences, where the experimental components or project work, among others, and the acquisition of multi-purpose competences, play decisive roles.

The number of students’ working hours includes various forms of work, such as contact hours and hours dedicated to internships, projects, field work, studies and evaluations. Contact hours include the time used in collective training sessions, such as in classrooms, laboratories or field work, and in individual tutorial sessions.

Since the implementation of ECTS credit system, there have been several changes, such as:

• student workload in this system is the time required to complete all planned learning activities such as lectures, seminars, individual study, preparation of projects, examinations, etc.;
• the teacher’s role goes beyond the physical classroom and now includes guidance and support;
• places of learning, libraries, laboratories, etc., are considered particularly important;
• access to information – e.g. written, oral, internet – and the ability to select, organise and summarise becomes particularly important;
• greater flexibility in the training pathways.

According to Decree-Law no. 133/2019, 3 September, the legal regime for distance learning was approved, defining a clear framework of principles and rules for its accreditation, organisation and operations. This aimed to stimulate training capacity to train at least 50 000 adults by 2030 and supported by the Universidade Aberta (Open University) and other higher education institutions through networks and consortia and joint degree offers.

The National Council for Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education (CNIPES) plays a strategic role in promoting pedagogical innovation in Portugal, acting as a key body in the modernization of higher education, focusing on improving the quality of learning and academic success. Created in October 2024 (Regulatory Decree No. 4/2024, November 4), CNIPES was established with the mission of modernising educational practices. It is composed of 25 national and international experts, forming a multidisciplinary team that includes representatives from various higher education institutions and academic associations.

Progression of students

HEI bodies are responsible for the rules related to students making the transition from year to year. They are also responsible for course requirements and determining the maximum time allowed to complete a 1st cycle degree.

Given that public higher education funding takes student academic success into account, enrolment is suspended for those who do not fulfil certain requirements.

HEIs allow their students to enrol and attend their study cycles on a part-time basis. They are responsible for regulations regarding conditions for enrolment, fees and the validity system, which should result in proportional application of general rules.

Employability

As part of HEIs’ social responsibility, as stipulated in the legal framework governing their operation (Law No 62/2007, 10 September), HEIs should support their graduates’ involvement in working life, collecting and disseminating information regarding information on their career paths.

HEIs use a variety of strategies to do this, often via the creation of career guidance offices, focussing primarily on young graduates’ employment and entrepreneurship, thus creating a network connected to the world of work.

Every year, HEIs draft and publish a report which details, amongst other aspects, the employability of their graduates.

The level of employability of the graduates is one of the parameters of the quality assessment process of the study cycles considered by the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES).

Within the framework of measures aimed at supporting the professional integration of qualified young people and strengthening the attractiveness of the labor market for higher education graduates, there are currently two main support instruments:

• Salary bonus for the enhancement of qualifications – annual financial support awarded to young workers up to 35 years of age who have completed a bachelor's or master's degree. The bonus is paid for a period equivalent to the number of years of the completed study cycle and is intended to enhance the value of the qualification obtained in higher education. The benefit applies to degrees obtained from national or foreign higher education institutions, provided they are recognized in Portugal.
• Youth Tax Regime (IRS Jovem) – a personal income tax regime that provides for a progressive reduction in tax for young workers during the first years of their professional activity, increasing disposable income at the start of their careers.

It is worth mentioning that Portugal is currently involved in a project entitled ‘Promoting higher education better adapted to the labour market: towards a better skills projection system’, in conjunction with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission, whose aim is to create a system for anticipating and projecting the skills needed by the Portuguese labour market.

This anticipation will allow higher education provision to be better adapted to the labour market and students to make more informed decisions in a situation of rapid technological developments and changing skills needs. For more information, see the presentation of the project's results.

Student assessment

The rules regarding the assessment system are approved by the HEIs’ competent bodies, as part of their pedagogic autonomy.

There are several types of student assessment, used in isolation or combined, for example: oral and/or written essays; examinations; tests; theses; reports on traineeships/ and/or fieldwork, ongoing assessment, with the possibility of quantitative or qualitative classification.

As a study cycle quality assessment parameter, assessment processes are presented to Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education as part of accreditation.

Certification

The bachelor' (licenciado) degree is awarded to those who have obtained the fixed number of credits, after concluding all the units that are part of the licenciatura course.

The degree has a final classification between 10 and 20 (pass) on a numerical scale of 0 to 20, as well as its equivalent in the European scale of comparability of classifications.

The final grade is the weighted arithmetic mean of the classifications obtained on the course units.

The degree awarded is registered by the relevant HEI body, the holder certified and a certificate issued. For students who request it, a course certificate (carta de curso) may be issued by the HEI.

Documents that certify an academic degree may be multilingual, although the reference to degrees and diplomas must be made in Portuguese.

The diploma is issued alongside a bilingual diploma supplement in Portuguese and English.