Iscte Bucks National Trend with Increased Student Placements in Lisbon and Sintra
Iscte has emerged as the only public university in Portugal to increase its number of students in the first phase of the National Access Competition, according to data released this Sunday by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation. This achievement comes in a year marked by a significant national downturn in higher education placements. All courses across Iscte's four schools in its main Lisbon campus were completely filled. At the university's newer campus, Iscte-Sintra, only two of the ten undergraduate degrees have spots remaining for the second application phase.
The university's performance is a significant outlier. Nationally, the higher education sector lost approximately 6,000 students in this first phase compared to 2024, a drop of about 12% that has impacted institutions unevenly across the country. Iscte has traditionally been one of the few universities, alongside the nursing schools of Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra, to fill all its vacancies in the first round. The continued high demand, even with the expansion in Sintra, underscores the university's strong appeal.
Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, the rector of Iscte, commented on the results, stating, “Num contexto em que o ensino superior perde seis mil alunos colocados face a 2024, cerca de 12%, afetando as instituições de forma muito desigual, o Iscte confirma-se como uma universidade com grande procura por parte de alunos de todo o país.” She attributed this success to the university's innovative academic programs and its strategic decision to open a school in Sintra, located in the northern part of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, a region with one of the highest concentrations of young people in Portugal.
The strong demand for Iscte is also reflected in its “índice de força” (strength index), a key indicator that relates the number of filled spots to the number of students who selected the university as their first choice. Iscte ranked as the second university nationwide on this metric with a score of 149.29%, just behind the University of Porto at 152.05%. This indicates that a vast majority of the students who secured a place at Iscte had prioritized it as their top option.
The overall decrease in student placements nationally has resulted in about 10% of total university spots remaining unfilled after the first phase. The decline was less severe for universities, which saw a 6% drop in new students compared to the previous year, than for polytechnics. Iscte's ability to not only resist this trend but to actually grow its student body points to a significant development for the local areas of Lisbon and Sintra. The influx of new students is expected to place additional pressure on the local housing markets, particularly for rental properties, signaling a robust and growing demand that will be of keen interest to property owners and real estate investors in the region.
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