In Portugal, higher education institutions (HEI) have full institutional autonomy. Within the scope of their autonomy, HEI establish the periods of teaching activity and the holiday periods. In the table below we present national trands.
The organisation of the academic year 2024 /2025 in Portugal is as follows:
|
Beginning of the academic year |
September/October |
| Period(s) when there are teaching activities |
Higher education institutions establish the periods of teaching activity. The academic year is most commonly organised by semester, though some advanced study programmes are organised in trimesters. The 1st semester starts between the first and third week of September and ends during the month of February. The 2nd semester starts in February and ends at the end of July. |
|
Period(s) of examination |
Higher education institutions are free to organise themselves, but there are typically two exam periods: • at the end of the 1st semester: January/February • at the end of the 2nd semester: June/July |
|
End of the academic year |
In general, the academic year ends at the end of July. |
|
Breaks between the teaching activities excluding the examination period, if significant [1] |
In the 1st semester there is a seven to ten days interruption for Christmas holidays (December). In the 2nd semester there is a break of one to two weeks for the Easter holidays (March/April). |
[1] A break would be considered significant if longer than a week.