Scholarships to Study in Portugal (2027)

Non-EU students enter Portuguese public universities through the International Student Statute, a special call with its own quota and fees set by each university. The deciding fact is language: bachelor's degrees are taught in Portuguese, and the University of Coimbra requires Portuguese at B2, with a paid foundation year for those below it. Applications run in several phases through the year rather than to one deadline.

Verified 13 Sep 2026 Sources

Portugal's main financial lever for international students is not a scholarship but the fee reduction for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries. At the University of Porto, students from the CPLP countries, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor, can receive a reduction of up to 45 per cent of the annual fee.

The University of Coimbra runs merit-based partial exemptions from tuition for international students, awarded according to the grades obtained, from the first year and throughout the programme, to the best international students in each faculty within a set quota.

Note also that a student who is covered by an international treaty granting equal rights and obligations between Portugal and their home country may not be treated as an international student at all, which changes the fee; Portuguese law addresses that case specifically. Anyone from a country with such a treaty should check it before accepting the international fee.

⚠️ Government scholarship programmes were not read for this file and are not described.