University applications in Portugal are open — and the window shuts on 6 August
Portugal's first-phase university applications opened on 20 July and run to 6 August, online via DGES. Results on 23 August — and this year, double-check your grades.
Apply / Learn moreIt has begun: the first phase of Portugal’s Concurso Nacional de Acesso — the national competition for places in public higher education — opened this Monday, 20 July, and runs until 6 August, exclusively online. If you have a student at home (or are one), these are the dates to carve into the fridge door: apply by 6 August, results on 23 August, complaints until the 28th.
Update, 20 July: this year the opening arrives with an extra jolt, after exam grades were sent to schools with errors — corrected grades have been restored, but double-check yours before submitting. The turbulence has already led the opposition Socialists to ask the government to consider extending the window; for now, the dates stand. And a veteran’s tip: do not leave submission for the evening of 6 August, as DGES servers are not famous for their grace under last-day pressure.
How does the Portuguese university application work?
Everything happens on the DGES online system: candidates pick up to six course/institution pairs, ranked by preference — and the ranking matters more than it looks, because the system places each applicant in the first option their grade reaches. It is worth spending an afternoon studying last year’s final admission grades, course by course, before locking the list. There is a priority contingent for Portuguese emigrants, their family members and Luso-descendants, with a shorter window: 20 to 27 July, the same deadline that applies to those requesting the substitution of entrance exams with foreign qualifications.
Whoever gets in then has sums to do — tuition, housing, materials — and it helps to know that applications for student grants open on 14 August, just in time for those who learn their placement on the 23rd.
When do the first-phase results come out?
On 23 August. Anyone left out, or hoping to trade up, gets a second phase between 24 August and 2 September. The full calendar, the application guide and the platform are on the official DGES website.
Image: Alvesgaspar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
