The new rules for awarding grants to higher education students were published today in the Diário da República and, as of next academic year, support will also be extended to working students.
The reinforcement of support for higher education students was announced last week by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI) and the new rules, published today, will already be in force at the start of the next academic year.
In the text of the law, the government justifies the measures by stressing the need to “adapt and strengthen the scholarship and financial support programs to the real socio-economic situation of students, promoting success and reducing drop-outs from higher education”.
As a result, student-workers will now have access to a scholarship and the automatic award of a scholarship will also be extended to young people entering higher education on professional technical courses.
In the case of the accommodation supplement, which is extended to students without a grant, the order sets new limits that increase the amount of support awarded between 15.85 euros and 27.39 euros, depending on the city, compared to last year.
In addition to the rules now published, Minister Fernando Alexandre revealed last week that the Ministry has asked for a study to assess the impact of the different social support measures for higher education students in order to improve them.
The evaluation of the different types of support should be completed by the end of April 2025 and the changes will have an impact on students studying in higher education in the 2025/26 academic year.
