Portugal's national university admissions process opened on Monday with only 304 students submitting applications on the first day, as the education system grapples with grading irregularities affecting thousands of secondary school exams.
Education Minister Fernando Alexandre acknowledged failures in the exam classification process after approximately 1,400 tests were marked as suspended due to technical errors. The grading problems emerged as results for more than 300,000 national exams began posting on Friday, the first year Portugal processed exams digitally. EduQA, the assessment authority, said it would send complete grade records to schools starting Sunday.
The Academic Federation of Lisbon expressed concern about potential impacts on university access. Universities and polytechnics have made 56,790 places available for the 2026-2027 academic year, with the first application phase running through August 6 and results scheduled for August 23.