The government approved exceptional measures to ensure access to higher education in the 2020-2021 school year by students with foreign secondary education systems.
These measures, approved by the Council of Ministers through Decree-Law no. 33/2020 of 1 July, aim to ensure that the continuity of studies of candidates for higher education, and specifically emigrants and family members residing with them, is not impaired.
This situation occurs because several foreign education systems have approved exceptional changes to the conditions for completion of secondary education, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these countries, one of the measures is the waiving of national assessment tests, which under normal circumstances would dictate secondary school completion.
In this way, the government has approved exceptional measures so as not to hinder the entry of foreign students into Portuguese higher education, such as eliminating the need to present the results of final national exams.
With the adoption of these measures, students who have completed secondary education in countries that, due to Covid-19, have opted for the cancellation of final secondary education exams, may have access to Portuguese higher education.
