To record. There are 69,965 young foreigners studying in Portugal
There are 69,965 foreigners who attend higher education in Portugal. Students from Brazil occupy the first place on the list, followed by those from Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Angola and Spain. France, Italy, Germany, Mozambique and China are also among the countries that most “send” young people to universities in our country.
Filomena Soares, vice-rector of the University of Minho (UM), explains to DN that the numbers show “an increase of more than 10 thousand students compared to last year (a period in which the pandemic had impressive consequences)”. “Looking at the pre-pandemic period, where the total number was 65,196 students, we can say that there was a considerable rise again. send “to our country”, advances.
Ten years ago (2012-2013 academic year) there were just over 31,000 foreign students attending higher education in Portugal. A number that has been increasing year after year, with the exception of 2020-2021, a reflection of the covid-19 pandemic.
These data were presented at the conference “Is our Higher Education inclusive?”, which took place at UM, in Braga, in a joint initiative for the international promotion of the 16 higher education institutions that are members of the CRUP (Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities). Filomena Soares advances that the purpose of the meeting was “to understand what work has been carried out by universities with regard to the process of inclusion of foreigners who choose to do their higher education in Portugal”. “To support the inclusion of these students in Portuguese universities, we created a program where we put universities talking to each other. We are aware that, as in any evolutionary process, there is always room for improvement and this logic makes even more sense within universities , which is assumed, par excellence, as spaces for change and the implementation of innovative practices”, he underlines.
The conference also presented the study The Economic and Sociocultural Impact of International Students in Portugal, which reflects the perceptions of some international students in Portugal in relation to their sense of belonging to the country. The study concludes that “students, in general, do not have the contacts they would like with Portuguese culture and inhabitants” and “identifies that most of their friends in Portugal are other international students”, thus revealing the existence of “a barrier between local and international students”. The students surveyed felt “a need to foster more affective connections with the locals, to improve their experience”. Other difficulties were pointed out in the sharing of cultures between these students and the Portuguese inhabitants. However, when asked if they would recommend people from their country to do a mobility program in Portugal, the answer was positive.
Medical schools welcome refugee students
Portugal has also been the destination of many refugee students. The reception of these students, explains Filomena Soares, is based on “general indications of the tutelage”, but “each university, autonomously, defines its internal procedures”. “In any case, the student must previously present the Residence Authorization under the Temporary Protection Regime to the institutions. Since there is no joint accounting of higher education institutions in Portugal, one area in particular can be highlighted, which is that of medicine, where schools across the country got involved in a joint initiative and, given the many registered requests, gave a concerted response, distributing students to the different faculties”, he says.