Education in Portugal

Education in Portugal
Ministry of Education
Minister1Fernando Alexandre (2024–present)
National education budget (2024)
Budget€ 10.2 billion[1][2]
General details
Primary languagesPortuguese
System typeNational
Origins
University Schools
Polytechnic Schools
Industrial Institutes
Polytechnical Institutes
Major reorganizations
Bologna process
12th century2 (established)
12903 (established)
1837 to 19114
1852 to 19745
1970s - 1980s6 (established)
1990s and 2000s7
20078 (established)
Literacy (2021[3])
Total96.9%
Male97.9%
Female96.0%
Enrollment
Total2,025,082[4][5]
Primary633,650
Secondary958,215
Post secondary433,217
Attainment
Secondary diploma23.5%[6]
Post-secondary diploma19.8%[6]
1The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Science covers all education levels including higher education, as well as Science and technology in Portugal.
2The first medieval schools were catholic church related, including the first medieval university established in 1290.
3 Portuguese universities have existed since 1290. The oldest such institution, the University of Coimbra, was first established in Lisbon before moving to Coimbra. Historically, within the scope of the now defunct Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese founded in 1792 the oldest engineering school of Latin America (the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho), as well as the oldest medical college of Asia (the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa) in 1842.
4Two Polytechnic Schools were originally created in 1837 in Lisbon and Porto, and were later merged into the Universities of Lisbon and Porto created in 1911.
5The Industrial Institutes were created in 1852. Discontinued the industrial professional studies policy, they will gave bird to some of the older schools and institutes that compose today's Polytechnic Institutes. Some faculties of Lisbon's universities also originated from the original Instituto Industrial de Lisboa.
6The Polytechnic Institutes were created during the 1970s and 1980s as groups of new and existing institutes and schools.
7Several reforms and reorganizations of the overall educational system were performed, including changes on the polytechnics competences, introduction of new exams in basic and secondary schools, and extensive changes in the curricula of all levels of education.
8The Bologna process lead to a new wave of reforms and changes in education since the late 1990s onwards, specially in the universities and polytechnics.

Education in Portugal is free and compulsory until the age of 18, when students usually complete their year 12. However, only one of those requirements is necessary. The education is regulated by the State through the Ministry of Education. There is a system of public education and also many private schools at all levels of education. The first Portuguese medieval universities, such as the University of Coimbra, were created in the 13th century, and the national higher education system is fully integrated into the European Higher Education Area.

The basic literacy rate of the Portuguese population is 99.44 (99.48% male, 99.38% female, aged 15–24).[7] According to INE (Portuguese Institute for National Statistics), only 3.7 million Portuguese workers (67% of the working active population) completed basic education (81% of the working population attained the lower basic level of education and 12% attained the intermediate level of education).[8]

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, the average Portuguese 15-year-old student, when rated in terms of reading literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, near above the OECD's average. Although, with a sharp downwards trend.[9][10]

  1. ^ "OE2024: Ensino básico e secundário com aumento de quase 400 milhões". Renascença (in Portuguese). 10 October 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  2. ^ "OE 2024: Orçamento de cinco instituições de ensino superior cresce mais de 20% com nova fórmula". Expresso (in Portuguese). 31 October 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Taxa de analfabetismo segundo os Censos: total e por sexo". Pordata (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Alunos matriculados no ensino superior: total e por sexo". Pordata (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Alunos matriculados nos ensinos pré-escolar, básico e secundário: total e por nível de ensino". Pordata (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b "População residente com 15 e mais anos segundo os Censos: total e por nível de escolaridade completo mais elevado (%)". Pordata (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Portugal". uis.unesco.org. 27 November 2016.
  8. ^ (in Portuguese) Alunos portugueses pela primeira vez "perto da média" - relatório PISA, Destak
  9. ^ "Testes PISA: Portugal supera média da OCDE" (in Portuguese). Visão.
  10. ^ "E agora no PISA: alunos portugueses melhoram a ciências, leitura e matemática". Expresso (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.