Portugal continues to be a "success story" in education, after three decades in which there was an almost universalisation of compulsory education, a reduction in school dropout and grade repetition, and the massification of access to higher education, according to the "Annual Education Balance 2026", developed by EDULOG, of the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation.

Levels higher than the European average

The report highlights that young Portuguese people today have qualification levels similar to or higher than those of their European peers: In 2024, 43% of young people aged 23 to 27 had higher education, placing them among the most qualified in the European Union.

Half of young people aged 18 to 20 were studying in higher education, 13 percentage points (p.p.) more than before the pandemic, a growth also seen in master's degrees and Higher Professional Technical Courses (CTeSP), according to the study to which Lusa had access.

Democratisation of education

The democratisation of education has contributed to Portugal having one of the highest proportions of master's degree holders, among both younger and more experienced workers.

However, researchers warn that it remains a country marked by strong generational contrasts, with an older population and very low levels of education.

The percentage of people aged 35 to 45 with completed secondary education remains more than 10 percentage points below the European average, and exceeds 35 percentage points among workers at the end of their careers. But this is not the only inequality detected: “As education has become universalised, inequalities have shifted within the system: it is the pathways, not access, that today filter who fully benefits,” reads the report coordinated by Hugo Figueiredo.

Level of schooling

It is more common to find students with higher education among the children of parents with higher education, and failure remains more common among students from less-educated families, beneficiaries of School Social Action, as well as among foreign students.

Immigration appears precisely as another of the major structural transformations: Between 2014 and 2023, the number of foreigners in public schools increased by about 283%.

Foreign students

In September 2023, one in seven students had a foreign nationality, with regions with a strong presence of immigrants, such as some municipalities in the Algarve, Lisbon or Setúbal, where they represent more than 30% of the total enrolled.

While almost half of the foreign students are Brazilian (47%), there are increasingly more Asian and European students, who have brought significant linguistic and pedagogical challenges, experts warn, pointing to a system that has failed to keep up with the phenomenon, with many students in classes unable to speak Portuguese.

Retention rates for foreign students are three to five times higher than those for Portuguese students, reaching 29% in high school, compared to 8.3% for all students.