#6
English Proficiency Index
Education First 2024
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Talent
Talent is in Portugal’s DNA. The country's world-class education system trains highly driven professionals and attracts students and researchers from all over the globe.
International Benchmarking
Portugal offers well-educated, highly skilled, multilingual human resources. The Portuguese workforce is renowned for its commitment to work, flexibility, problem-solving abilities and global mindset.
The country also attracts top international talent, thanks to its excellent quality of life and entrepreneurial environment.
Portugal has the 3rd highest share of Engineering Graduates
Share of Engineering Graduates in Europe | OECD
A multilingual nation
Portugal’s welcoming nature and rich cultural heritage make the Portuguese naturally open to the rest of the world.
The study of foreign languages is widely encouraged in schools, with English being mandatory from an early age. An important part of the workforce also speaks French. More recently, students have increasingly taken up Spanish as part of their study programmes. These are the most prevalent languages, widely spoken in the country, namely in the urban areas, as any visitor to Portugal can witness.
Already home to more than 1,000,000 foreign citizens in 2023, and an ever-growing pool of international talent, Portugal also embraces all kinds of cultures and languages (English, French, Spanish and German being the most widely spoken).
High-quality education and top-ranking universities
Portugal has a top-ranking education system, with an international reputation. The country has made great strides in boosting higher education and training, thanks to strong industry collaboration, strategic R&D partnerships and successful internship programmes.
These efforts have led Portuguese institutions to consistently rank among the best in the world, particularly in Management Education and Engineering.
Of the approximately 96,000 Portuguese graduates each year, around 30% are enrolled in STEM degrees – Science, Maths, Technology and Engineering, making Portugal a leading tech destination, and the third EU country with the highest rate of engineering graduates, according to the OECD.
The quality of Portugal's higher education is also evidenced by the growing number of international students seeking Portuguese universities, as well as the many cooperation agreements established with high-level institutions around the world. Currently, foreign students represent around 16% of total enrolments in higher education.
Portugal has become very attractive for highly qualified foreigners thanks to the increasing number of employment opportunities. The inflow of skill-intensive projects has also enabled the return of Portuguese talent that had exited the country in the early part of the past decade. As a result, the pool of young and educated talent is becoming increasingly diverse, multilingual and well-versed in international environments.
