"The government will also include in the proposed State Budget Law for 2026 the update of undergraduate tuition fees based on the 2025 inflation rate," announced Fernando Alexandre.

The Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation was speaking at the end of a presentation session of the final report of the study evaluating the social assistance system in higher education.

In 2016, Parliament approved a freeze on the maximum tuition fee, proposed by the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) as part of the 2017 State Budget.

At the time, the amount was set at €1,067.85, having undergone successive reductions, and since 2020/2021, it has been at €697.

In January of last year, the Minister of Education had already admitted the possibility of unfreezing the tuition fee, based on the conclusions of the Nova University of Lisbon study on the social assistance system.

"It's an increase of €13 annually, but no one can be excluded from access to higher education for economic reasons. Tuition fees are a cost of attending higher education, and the calculation of the social assistance grant amount must take this cost into account," Fernando Alexandre said.

Justifying the measure, the minister argued that the freeze "favours students with higher incomes more" and argued that tuition fees are essential for higher education institutions to pursue "strategies of excellence."

Along the same lines, the minister also advocated for greater autonomy for institutions to set master's degree tuition fees and, in statements to journalists at the end of the session, ruled out any ceiling on the amount that universities and polytechnics can charge.

"We hope that higher education institutions that charge very high tuition fees, and many already do, will set aside a significant portion of their own revenue to ensure that students who cannot afford to pursue these master's programs, but have the academic ability to do so, are not deprived of access," he emphasised, insisting that tuition fees are also how institutions can be competitive internationally.

It is also based on the conclusions of the study presented today that the Government will review the Regulation for Awarding Scholarships to Higher Education Students.

The changes, Fernando Alexandre anticipated, will be approved by the end of the year, so they can be included in the 2026 State Budget and the new regulations can take effect at the start of the 2026/2027 academic year.