A Pordata report from the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation reveals that Lisbon, Setúbal and Algarve have the lowest secondary education completion rates in Portugal. In the North, 81% of students who started a general secondary course at a public school in 2020/21 completed it three years later, while in Greater Lisbon this rate was only 67%. In vocational courses, only 56% of students completed their training. In the 3rd cycle of basic education, the North and Central regions generally have completion rates above 90%, while Greater Lisbon and Algarve fell below 85% in 2022/23.
In the 2024/2025 academic year, there were 2,078,116 students enrolled in the Portuguese education system, 9,326 more than the previous year, resulting from 9 thousand more students in primary education and almost 8 thousand in higher education. This trend contradicts predictions based on birth rates and reflects strong population growth related to increased immigration. There was, however, a decline of almost 4 thousand students in pre-school and over 3 thousand in secondary education. Private nursery schools cover more than 45% of children attending pre-school.
The presence of foreign students in the Portuguese education system has grown significantly. In 2023/24, there were 206,011 students with one or both parents of foreign nationality in pre-school, basic and secondary education. In higher education, the number of foreign students quadrupled in the last 15 years, rising from 20 thousand to 80 thousand students in 2024/2025. In integrated master's degrees, the growth was even more significant, increasing sevenfold, from 3,282 students in 2010 to 22,523 in 2025. Brazil, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, France and Italy were the five countries with the most students enrolled in Portuguese higher education. Higher education exceeded 456 thousand enrolled students in 2024/2025.
The report also warns of a shortage of new teachers. The number of new teaching graduates (two thousand per year) is lower than the number of teachers leaving through retirement (three thousand per year). The dropout rate in higher education, one year after enrollment, reached 30% of admissions in 2022/2023 or 2023/2024. Early childhood educators and primary and secondary cycle teachers represent approximately 40% of new graduates in teaching master's programs, while teachers of 3rd cycle and secondary subjects represent only 20%.
