The University of Coimbra is strengthening its international attractiveness and broke a historic record with 2,231 foreign students in the previous academic year, a number that will be exceeded this year with more than 2,300 mobility students from 120 countries. The Vice-Rector for External Relations and Alumni, João Nuno Calvão da Silva, highlighted that the internationalization dynamic is almost unstoppable, with historic records broken year after year.
With regard to Portuguese-speaking countries, the Portuguese language dominates at the University of Coimbra, with more than 3,000 Brazilian students, many of whom choose the Faculty of Law, since Portuguese-speaking legal systems are based on the Portuguese model and were frequently developed by masters from that faculty. The Vice-Rector specifically mentioned the case of Macau, whose legal system was developed by figures such as Paulo Mota Pinto, in the civil code, and Figueiredo Dias, in the criminal code, with the institution maintaining a cooperation agreement with the University of Macau for over 40 years.
Cape Verde represents another connection hub in the field of Medicine, through a cooperation agreement between the two states that allows future Cape Verdean doctors to spend two years of their training in Coimbra, as part of the integrated master's program. Calvão da Silva argued that the University remains very strong in the Portuguese-speaking world and that the institution attempts to replicate this model in other latitudes.
The Vice-Rector expressed the desire to have more students from Portuguese-speaking African countries, lamenting that many do not have the conditions to be in Coimbra, despite benefiting from lower tuition fees than other international students. He also stated that it is not possible to reserve places due to a matter of equity and equal opportunities, since candidates compete among themselves.
