According to the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC), 74,597 international students were enrolled in Portugal. International students represent 17 percent of the student body in the country.
Brazil (17,028) is the country from which the majority of international students come, followed by Guinea-Bissau (6,910), Cape Verde (6,449), Angola (5,292), and France (3,406). Remarkably, the total student enrollment in Portuguese universities and polytechnics for the academic year 2022–23 reached 446,028.
There is a notable increase of 12,811 in the number of international students from the previous year. Out of the total number of students, 359,397 were enrolled in public higher education. On the other hand, 86,631 were in private higher education institutions. Additionally, 155,082 students enrolled for the first time in their first year in Portuguese universities and institutions. Moreover, there was a higher representation of women than men in the education and training sectors.
Male students showed a keen interest in fields like services, engineering, manufacturing, and construction, as well as information and communication technologies. Polytechnics accounted for 30.5 percent of the students (135,833), contributing to the overall growth, which has surged by 24 percent since 2015-16.
In light of an increase in student enrollment during the previous academic year, Portugal is gradually advancing towards its objective of attaining a 60 percent higher education enrollment rate among the youth.
Portugal is home to some of the top universities that host many international students. Among many universities, there is the University of Coimbra, marked as one of the oldest universities since it was founded in 1290. The institution was the first and only Portuguese-speaking university until the beginning of the 20th century.
Some other popular universities in Portugal consist of: