The dropout rate in higher education is on the rise, with 13.2% of new students discontinuing their studies, as national data reveals 11 courses where all enrolled students have quit.
Among over 265,000 new students, about 35,000 did not remain enrolled in higher education the following year, according to an analysis of data from the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC) released on the Infocursos 2025 Portal.
The data highlights where students were a year after their first enrollment: most continued in the same program, but a growing number are dropping out.
11 Courses with Complete Student Dropout
- Sustainable Cities and Communities – University of Coimbra – Faculty of Science and Technology
- Public Sphere History – Nova University of Lisbon – Faculty of Social and Human Sciences
- Transition, Innovation, and Sustainable Environments – Nova University of Lisbon – Faculty of Social and Human Sciences
- Information Modeling in Building Construction – BIM A+ – University of Minho – University of Minho
- Advanced Structural Analysis and Design with Composite Materials – FRP++ – University of Minho – University of Minho
- Advanced Structural Analysis and Design with Composite Materials – FRP++ – University of Minho – University of Minho
- Advanced Structural Analysis and Design with Composite Materials – FRP++ – University of Minho – University of Minho
- Advanced Structural Analysis and Design with Composite Materials – FRP++ – University of Minho – University of Minho
- Child and Pediatric Health Nursing – Santa Maria School of Health – Santa Maria School of Health
- Social Education – Jean Piaget South Polytechnic Institute – Jean Piaget School of Education of Almada
- Lisbon University Institute – Digital Technologies for Business – ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute – ISCTE
The professional higher technical courses (CTeSP) are of particular concern, with 28.1% of enrollees dropping out in the first year (an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year).
There is also a rise in dropout rates in second-cycle master’s programs, with 15% of new students not enrolling the following year, while the dropout rate in bachelor’s degrees reached 11.2% (an increase of 0.1 percentage points).
Only integrated master’s programs saw a slight decrease in dropout rates, from 3.6% to 3.1%.
Among approximately 4,000 courses, 11 stand out where all 263 registered students abandoned higher education, as reported by the DGEEC. These students were neither re-enrolled in their courses nor had they requested transfers to other programs.
Notably, among master’s programs with total abandonment were courses in “Documentary Film Directing” at Lusófona University (48 students), “Archaeology Techniques” at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (38 students), and Child and Pediatric Health Nursing at Santa Maria School of Health in Porto (28 students).
Expanding the search, there are 146 courses where more than half of the students left the education system: nearly 3,000 students exited, most of whom were in master’s programs.
Course change remains an option for 8.5% of first-year bachelor’s students, 9.1% of those in integrated master’s programs, and 5.6% of new CTeSP enrollees, although the vast majority remain in the program they initially entered.
Increasingly, students are being placed in their preferred courses upon applying to higher education, as indicated by DGEEC data, which also showcases success rates.
Among 4,188 courses, 22 have a 100% completion rate on time, with 113 students finishing their studies without failing. The majority were in master’s programs.
The courses with the highest completion rates continue to be in the fields of Education, Health, and Social Protection.
Conversely, 364 courses saw none of the new enrollees finishing their studies on time, affecting a total of 5,945 students across various disciplines.
Among high-enrollment courses, the course of Law and Legal Science at the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon stands out: none of the 372 first-time enrollees finished within the expected timeframe.
The other two high-enrollment, low-success courses were “Nursing” at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal and the University of Évora.
The Infocursos portal provides detailed information on the 6,225 courses available in higher education: 1,062 CTeSP, 1,661 bachelor’s degrees and integrated master’s programs, and 3,502 second-cycle master’s programs.
Aside from course-specific data, the Infocursos portal offers various national statistics, relating to bachelor’s programs for the upcoming academic year, as well as the reality faced by students who enrolled for the first time in the academic year 2023/24.
For instance, the data shows a slight decline in the number of international students in higher education, reversing a decade-long trend of increasing numbers. Only master’s programs witnessed a marginal increase from 26.2% to 26.4%.
