If in the European space this represented some difficulty, outside the European space this difficulty was “enormous”. For this reason, the Government introduced this year “new conditions so that the application process can be easy”.

"We have created a system in which this request can be made to the Directorate-General for Education or to consular services from the country of residence, which will speed up the bureaucratic process", explained the government official.

The Government, on the other hand, introduced the possibility that students from the emigrant community who made the course of vocational and vocational education - which already represent more than 40 percent of Portuguese high-school education - could also have access to degrees through exams carried out by groups of higher education institutions.

These exams, which were initially designed for students who did vocational and professional education in Portugal, will assess the ability that students from emigration have acquired to access higher education taking into account the learning process in their respective countries of origin.

“With great effort, and in the first year, Portuguese higher education institutions are open to receive students from different countries, who also followed vocational or vocational education in secondary school. Here they have a form of access equal to that of the students who are attending this teaching in Portugal and the possibility of continuing their studies”, reinforced the minister.

Last year, the number of students from the migrant community increased by almost 60 percent compared to the previous year, underlined Sobrinho Teixeira. Still, the record is very low. Only 416 of these students entered Portuguese higher education institutions last year.

"The path that is being taken is a good one because starting from low numbers we are managing to increase at a high pace, which we hope will continue", concluded João Sobrinho Teixeira.