International Student Admission

If you are a foreign citizen and wish to study in Portugal, this page gathers all the necessary information to apply for our Bachelor's degrees. Here you will find the admission requirements, deadlines, required documentation, tuition fees, and available support for international students.

At NOVA FCT, we value diversity and promote global education, where science, technology, and sustainability are at the heart of social transformation

International Student is a student who does not hold Portuguese nationality nor the nationality of another member state of the European Union.

The following students are not considered international students:

a) Nationals of a member state of the European Union;

b) Family members of Portuguese citizens or nationals of a member state of the European Union, regardless of their nationality:

a. The spouse of an EU citizen;

b. The partner with whom an EU citizen lives in a legally recognized de facto union or with whom the EU citizen maintains a duly certified permanent relationship, recognized by the competent authority of the member state where they reside;

c. The direct descendant under 21 years of age or who is dependent on an EU citizen, as well as the descendant of the spouse or partner as defined above;

d. The direct ascendant who is dependent on an EU citizen, as well as the ascendant of the spouse or partner as defined above.

c) Those who, not being nationals of a member state of the European Union and not covered by the previous paragraph, have legally resided in Portugal for more than two uninterrupted years as of January 1 of the year in which they intend to enter higher education, as well as their children (direct descendants under 21 years) who legally reside with them. For this purpose, residence time under a study residence permit is not considered;

d) Those who, on January 1 of the year in which they intend to enter higher education, benefit from equal rights and duties status granted under an international treaty signed between the Portuguese State and the state of their nationality;

e) Those who apply for entry into higher education under special access and admission regimes regulated by Decree-Law no. 393-A/99, of October 2, as amended by Decree-Law no. 272/2009, of October 1;

f) Those attending a Portuguese higher education institution under an international mobility program to complete part of a study cycle at a foreign higher education institution with which the Portuguese institution has established an exchange agreement for this purpose.

Students entering higher education under this regulation maintain the status of international student until the end of the study cycle in which they initially enrolled or to which they transfer, even if, during the course of the study cycle, they are granted equal rights and duties status under an international treaty signed between the Portuguese State and the state of their nationality.
International students who acquire the nationality of a European Union member state during the study cycle they are attending are exempt from the provisions in the previous paragraph.
The cessation of the application of the international student status as a result of the previous paragraph takes effect in the academic year following the date of nationality acquisition.
Admission to higher education institutions for those covered by items a) to f) of paragraph 2 is conducted under the same terms as students with Portuguese nationality.

Vacancies and Application Deadlines

The special access competition is conducted in accordance with the notice issued annually by NOVA FCT. The notice includes:

a) A calendar covering all actions related to the application;

b) Number of available places per study cycle;

c) Rules for verifying the academic knowledge of candidates;

d) Prerequisites for the study cycle;

e) Recognized foreign exams for the verification of academic knowledge.

Application and Documents

Applications are submitted online via NOVA FCT’s academic management system (CLIP), through the completion of an application form and electronic submission on the platform of the necessary supporting documents, namely:

a) Foreign identification document showing nationality;

b) Declaration, under honor commitment, stating that the candidate qualifies as an International Student as per the statute dated August 6, with exclusions listed in section 2 of the Regulation;

c) Document proving access qualifications, duly validated by the competent authority of the issuing country:

The secondary education completion certificate or equivalent must include the final average grade, detailed grades, and grading scale. This document must demonstrate that the candidate has passed the curricular components in areas covered by the academic knowledge verification exams applicable to the study cycle they intend to join;

If the final average is not available, it will be calculated as the simple arithmetic mean of the annual averages. If these are also not indicated, the final average will be obtained by the simple arithmetic mean of the grades for each subject;

International students who completed secondary education in Portugal must upload the Portuguese secondary education certificate or legally equivalent qualification in the application area.

d) Certificates of any other exams taken for higher education access in the country of origin, containing the respective grades obtained and grading scale;

e) Document proving proficiency in the language of instruction of the course applied for;

f) Other documents deemed necessary for evaluating the application, according to the prerequisites of the study cycles established in the competition notice.

The documents listed in items b) to f) above must be translated into Portuguese or English whenever they are not issued in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish.

By the time of enrollment, the documents listed in items c) and d) must be certified by a Portuguese diplomatic or consular authority or submitted with the Hague Apostille issued by the competent authority of the country of origin of the document or other certification of diploma authenticity.

Each year, candidates may apply to a maximum of three study cycles, ranked by order of preference.

The application is subject to payment of a fee as stated in the Fees and Charges table of Universidade Nova de Lisboa. The application will only be considered valid after payment of the respective fee.

The application fee is €70.