Education in Portugal

Education in Portugal

Ministry of Education
Minister1	Fernando Alexandre (2024–present)
National education budget (2024)
Budget	€ 10.2 billion[1][2]
General details
Primary languages	Portuguese
System type	National
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])
Total	96.9%
Male	97.9%
Female	96.0%
Enrollment
Total	2,025,082[4][5]
Primary	633,650
Secondary	958,215
Post secondary	433,217
Attainment
Secondary diploma	23.5%[6]
Post-secondary diploma	19.8%[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]