“Between 2018/19 and 2023/24, we have seen an increase of more than 160% in immigrants in primary and secondary education”, revealed the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI), Fernando Alexandre, during the presentation of the OECD report “Education at a Glance 2024”.
In 2019, there were around 53,000 foreign students in Portuguese schools, representing 5.3% of the total number of students enrolled. Last year, there were already 140,000, representing 13.9% of the total number of students, according to data from the OECD report.
“This is one of the major challenges in Education,” announced the minister, highlighting that the downward trend in the number of students in Portuguese schools was interrupted by the arrival of these foreign children and young people.
In the last two years alone, more than 70,000 new students were enrolled: 39,500 in 2022/2023 and 33,500 last year.
“More than 30,000 foreign students enter our education system every year, and they are all over the country. This poses immense challenges for us,” acknowledged the minister, who said that “very soon” measures will be announced to ensure that schools have the tools to deal with this new reality.
Currently, 14% of primary and secondary school students are foreigners and behind this national average there are local realities, such as in Lisbon or the Algarve, where “the average is much higher”, he said.
Among the main challenges for teachers is the fact that around 25 to 30% of these new students do not speak Portuguese, acknowledged the minister, who argued that the arrival of these students should be seen as “a good problem”.
“It would be tragic and depressing to continue closing classrooms and schools”, he said, stressing that Portugal has no future without immigration.
“The integration of immigrants is essential for the functioning of our economy, but above all for our society to remain cohesive. The integration of these people depends on education and begins with the children of these immigrants. If we fail in education, we will fail in our migration policy”, concluded the minister, during the presentation of the OECD annual report.
The study also shows that more and more foreign students are choosing Portuguese higher education institutions to study.
The proportion of international or foreign students among all higher education enrolments increased in almost all countries between 2013 and 2022. “In Portugal, it increased from 4% to 12%,” the study states.
But the most substantial increase was recorded among those enrolled in master’s programmes or equivalent, which rose from 10% in 2013 to 15% in 2022, on average, in OECD countries. In Portugal, the increase was more than 10 percentage points: rising from 5% to 15%.