#8
English Proficiency
Education First 2023
Invest In Portugal
Investment
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.
3rd highest Rate of Engineering Graduates in Europe | OCDE
#7 Proficiency Index 2020
Portugal is high proficiency in english
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. As a result, the country has the 9th highest English proficiency among non-native speakers in the world, according to the English Proficiency Index 2022.
Already home to almost 700,000 foreign citizens, 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 for excellence. 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 90,000 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 15% of total enrolments in higher education.
Portuguese students also exhibit one of the highest participation rates in outward mobility programmes in the EU, according to the Erasmus+ Annual Report 2021 by the European Commission, which helps them develop new ways of thinking and learning. As a result, the pool of young and educated talent is becoming increasingly diverse, multilingual and well-versed in international environments.
