This Sunday, the results of the first phase of admissions at public universities were announced, with a 90% placement rate. In fact, around 90% of applicants were placed, making a total of 43,899 new students. Of these, 90.9% were placed in one of their top three choices. In other words, there are many happy students right now because they got into the course of their dreams.
There were only 14 courses with minimum grades above 18 points. From this Top 14 of excellence, it is worth noting the continued strength of the Aerospace Engineering area, which has 4 courses placing 246 students, and, as usual, Medicine, with 5 courses in the Top 14, placing 823 students. Obviously, many other courses also attracted students of excellent quality. In addition to these figures from public universities, we must add those from the Catholic University, which has already admitted and enrolled more than 4,500 new students this year, between bachelor's and master's degrees.
Despite the good news, these figures reveal a serious problem for the Portuguese higher education system—the growing gap between supply and demand in the system. In fact, the number of applicants to higher education peaked in 2021 with around 64,000 applicants in the first phase. There were slight declines in the following years and a very sharp decline this year, of 16.1%, to 48,718 applicants. However, the number of places offered has been increasing in recent years to a near-record 55,292 places this year. In other words, the system is currently operating at over 13% overcapacity.
Given the huge variety of institutions, courses, and locations, some overcapacity may be necessary to align supply and demand, but this balance point has now been greatly exceeded. The number of places left over for the next stages of the competition (many of which will not be filled) has increased by 130.4% from 5,000 to 11,500 places. To compound the problem, these leftover places are not distributed evenly, but are concentrated in polytechnics and institutions outside the major cities. Thus, at present, there are a number of institutions, particularly polytechnic institutes in the interior, which had demand for around 50-70% of their capacity and which this year risk falling below 40%. If the trend continues to accelerate—an increase in places in the system and a reduction in applicants—these institutions could face extinction.
However, there is another path, which is internationalization. Looking at the relationship between supply and demand in the public system by subject area, it is worth noting the overcapacity in Engineering, with 2,716 vacant places, Business Sciences, with 1,781 vacant places, and Personal Services, with 1,333 unfilled spots, three areas that account for more than half of the 11,500 unfilled
spots. Areas such as Computer Science, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences and Health follow closely behind, representing a further 2,500 places. These are all areas where there is strong demand for students in the international market, which represents a huge opportunity for the Portuguese university system.
On the one hand, it is necessary to rationalize the system by closing courses and reducing the number of places available or transforming institutions. At the same time, however, there must be a strong commitment to a process of internationalization that can increase demand and generate revenue. It is important to note that the current international context, with restrictions on the acceptance of students in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, countries that strongly attract international candidates for bachelor's and master's degrees, opens up a huge opportunity for the Portuguese higher education system to become a competitive export sector, with enhanced quality and skills.
And this opportunity for internationalization is not a mirage, but is already a reality in some areas. For example, in the field of Business Sciences, Portuguese universities already stand out in the international context with several schools in the world rankings and the capacity to attract more than 2,500 students per year. But this is not a unique case. The Faculty of Dental Medicine at Católica in Viseu began to grow when it lost the state support it received to teach Portuguese students a decade ago and turned to the European market, which currently accounts for half of its students.
This case also gives us clues as to how the public system can evolve to be more successful and contribute more to Portuguese society and the economy. On the one hand, tuition fees should be increased to bring them closer to the real cost of university education, not least because Portuguese universities cannot charge European Union students (their natural market) a different tuition fee from that charged to Portuguese students. In addition, student support and scholarships should be greatly strengthened so that no student with high merit is prevented from attending higher education due to financial hardship. Then, greater accountability for institutions to manage their own revenues and invest in internationalization processes. Knowing that if they do not do so successfully, they will have to adapt their offer to the national market and, in some cases, carry out deep restructuring and consolidation processes. Finally, for polytechnic institutions and those in peripheral regions, developing smart specialization processes that bring them closer to the regional business fabric and its research, innovation, and training needs, rather than trying to imitate the strategies of public universities in large cities.
Despite the challenges, this is a happy week. A week in which almost 45,000 young Portuguese people who have studied in a high-quality secondary education system and who have been successful in the demanding national exam process are about to begin their dream of a university course. They have made it to the university where they will build advanced knowledge bases in their chosen discipline and about the world around them, developing their full
potential as committed citizens and professionals of excellence. And on August 28, I will have the pleasure and honor of welcoming 1,200 of these young people to begin their university life at CATÓLICA-LISBON, which every year is the first school in the country to open its doors to new undergraduate students. Despite all the challenges we face, from geopolitics to artificial intelligence, these young people hold our future in their hands and in their hearts.
Filipe Santos, Dean at CATÓLICA-LISBON