Almost 50 thousand placed in the first stage of the competition for access to higher education

Almost 50,000 students were admitted to the first stage of the national competition for access to higher education, an increase compared to last year, with only 14.3% of candidates not taking part.

Of the 58,301 young people who applied, 49,963 have already been awarded a place in higher education, up 1.1% compared to the same round of the competition held last year, despite a slight drop in the number of applications, according to data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI).

On the day when the results of the first stage of the competition were announced, published at 00:00 on the website of the General Directorate of Higher Education (http://www.dges.gov.pt), the news could not have been better for the 28 thousand students selected in the first option (56.1%).

Nine out of 10 (87.8%) managed to get into one of the first three options, “the highest value in recent years and one of the most important factors for academic success,” the guardianship emphasizes.

Of the 1,119 courses in state universities available at this stage of the competition, 815 were fully occupied, leaving only 4,966 places, with the majority (76.8%) in polytechnic institutes.

The positions, which are currently unfilled – the lowest since 1999 – will be put up for competition in a second round that begins on Monday.

Only four higher education institutions filled all their places: the higher schools of nursing of Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto and ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa.

The least popular university was again the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, which had 975 vacancies, followed by the Polytechnic Institutes of Viseu (416), Guarda (338) and Castelo Branco (318).

As in previous years, the three universities with the largest number of places were also the most popular, including the first option: 9,167 candidates chose the University of Lisbon, which had 7,442 places, 8,069 chose the University of Porto, 4,781 places. 4,104 places gave preference to the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, which had only 2,823 places.

Aerospace engineering courses again have the highest average entry scores, all above 18, in a group of 23 courses that also includes five of the eight master’s degrees integrated into medicine.

On the other hand, there were 31 courses for which no students applied, the vast majority of which were in engineering and polytechnics.

MECI’s note added that of the approximately 50,000 students enrolled in Phase 1, 1,655 will be beneficiaries of School Social Action Level A, of which 1,178 were enrolled through this priority cohort.

214 students were also admitted through the priority contingent for candidates with disabilities (19.6% more than last year) and 402 through the contingent for Portuguese emigrants, their family members living with them and descendants of Portuguese (10.4% more).

The number of people placed in institutions located in areas with lower demand and less demographic pressure fell slightly (2%), as did the most competitive courses (with a large number of first-choice candidates in the previous year with an average score above 17 points), of which 4,116 places represent a 19% decrease compared to last year.

Courses supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEM) subjects saw a 5.5% increase in student enrolments.

Accepted students now have until Thursday to enroll. Those interested can apply for Stage 2 from Monday until September 4, and then Stage 3 from September 21 to 24.

“This way, the start of teaching activities is guaranteed almost simultaneously for all new students, avoiding the loss of approximately three weeks of classes for students transferred to stage 2 and approximately six weeks of classes for students transferred to stage 3,” MECI emphasizes.