Students in Portugal protest against tuition fee increases

The protest, scheduled for 5 pm in front of the Government headquarters on Campus XXI, was called by student associations from the Faculties of Arts, Fine Arts, Psychology, and the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Nova University of Lisbon, and the Lisbon Higher School of Music.

Student representatives are contesting the intention to update tuition fees, which have not changed since 2020, for undergraduate degrees, Higher Professional Technical Courses (CTeSP), and master's degrees essential for practising a professional activity, starting in the 2027/2028 academic year.

The measure, included in the State Budget proposal for 2027, stipulates that the maximum monthly payment will equal the 2026/2027 maximum value (€697), plus the average variation rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), excluding housing, recorded in 2026.

The government had already proposed updating monthly payments last year, but the opposition blocked the move by approving, in the specialised State Budget discussion for 2026, a Socialist Party (PS) proposal that kept the maximum at €697.

The 'freezing' of monthly payments was approved in 2016, at the time, by a proposal from the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) within the State Budget for 2017.

The value was then set at €1,067.85, having undergone successive reductions, and since 2020/2021 it has been at €697.