EUR 2,435 a month, nine international vacancies and no graduates yet: what Portugal's first private medical school means for a student from India or Africa

Portugal's doctors register with the Ordem dos Médicos, then enter the Internato Médico, post-degree training run by the health ministry's ACSS in Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) and other approved services. The Faculdade de Medicina of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Sintra, runs the first medicine degree in Portugal taught by a private institution, Lusa reported. It is accredited by A3ES, registered with DGES as R/A-Cr 154/2020 and listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools under ID F0007778. Nothing here is an allegation against the school.

The accreditation was contested. According to Diário de Notícias and Jornal Económico, A3ES rejected UCP's first application in December 2019 after negative opinions from its expert panel and the Ordem, and approved the course in September 2020 on appeal and resubmission. Observador reported the Ordem's objections: obstetrics and paediatrics placements in units without maternity wards, an outpatient-only psychiatry placement and no guarantee of training in SNS hospitals. The Ordem, the Conselho de Escolas Médicas Portuguesas and the student body ANEM alleged political pressure, Diário de Notícias reported. It opened on 14 September 2021 with 50 places and more than 600 interested applicants, Observador reported. On 1 April 2025 Lusa reported that A3ES had granted unconditional accreditation, doubling the intake to 100.

For a non-EU applicant it is costly and narrow. The 2026/27 fee page lists a non-refundable application fee of EUR 430, first-year enrolment of EUR 1,710 and monthly tuition of EUR 2,435 for international students in ten instalments a year, roughly EUR 146,000 in tuition over six years by our arithmetic; fees are reset annually. The third admission phase for September 2026 listed nine vacancies, English-language internal exams when offered, English at B2, a motivation letter and compulsory in-person interviews in English.

Recognition at home is the open question. India's FMGL Regulations 2021 require a 12-month internship in the same foreign institution. The Católica degree is a six-year integrated master with no separate internship year; the internship that follows is run by ACSS, not the school. The school's FAQ says graduates meet the legal requirements to join the Ordem and access that internship; how this maps onto NMC's wording is unresolved. No FMGE or NExT data exist; the first cohort entered in 2021. We found no report of fraud, impostors or agent scams naming this faculty; that is an absence of reports, not proof.

Admission is a ranked competition run by the school, so nobody can sell a seat; pay the institution, never an agent. Check the A3ES and DGES registers and the World Directory, keep your originals and, as the Indian embassy in Paramaribo advises, put recognition questions to the NMC and the Association of Indian Universities in writing before paying.