The results of the last phase of the National Competition for Access to Higher Education (CNAES) were released today by the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES) and show that universities and polytechnic institutes now have 45,290 new students, which is 10 per cent less than last year, when 50,612 candidates were placed.

The hypothesis that there were fewer students coming to higher education this year began to be raised when it became known that there were fewer candidates for the 1st phase of the CNAES, a theory reinforced by the results of the 1st placements which showed that only 44,000 students got a place, 12% less than the previous year and the lowest number since 2016.

Placements were always down on previous years and this 3rd and final opportunity to enter higher education through CNAES was no exception: only 801 new placements, less than double the number from last year.

Of the 801 new freshmen, 471 got a place at a university and the remaining 330 at a polytechnic, according to the results available on the DGES website.

Rectors, polytechnic presidents and student associations have pointed to various reasons for the reduction in students, from the high price of accommodation to the economic difficulties of families who can't afford to keep a child studying away from home to the obligation to take national exams to finish secondary school.

The problem is not related to the number of places made available by higher education institutions. In this 3rd phase alone, for example, 3,046 students applied for the 6,710 places on offer. In the three phases, there were 55,292 places and 45,290 students were placed.

Most of the new students were placed in the university subsystem, which now has around 29,000 "freshmen", with an occupancy rate of 92.8%.

Once again, this year, the polytechnic institutes had the most unfilled vacancies, with an occupancy rate of 67.72% after admitting 16,271 new students.

The polytechnic institutes of Tomar, Bragança, Guarda and Beja had the lowest occupancy rates (less than 40%), as opposed to the universities of Coimbra, Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Porto, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa and Escola Superior de Enfermagem in Lisbon, which saw more than 95% of the available places filled.

For students who have now been accepted, enrolment and registration will take place between 1 and 3 October at the higher education institution.