Portugal government scholarships come from three public bodies, and each one is open to a different group of people. Camões, I.P. pays full cooperation scholarships to citizens of six Portuguese-speaking countries and smaller language and culture grants to foreigners worldwide. FCT funds PhD grants that third-country nationals can win. The DGES student grant is for Portuguese, EU and permanently resident students, so a new international applicant on a study visa cannot use it.
That last point is where most listing sites go wrong. They present the DGES grant as a “fully funded scholarship for international students”, but its rules ask for Portuguese nationality or a qualifying residence status. Below I sort the Portugal government scholarships by who can actually apply, with the amounts, the 2026 windows (most have closed) and what to expect in 2027, all checked on 24 October 2026.
Portugal government scholarships: who can apply for which
| Scheme | Run by | Nationalities covered | Levels | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camões cooperation scholarships | Camões, I.P. | Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste only | Bachelor’s, master’s, PhD | 2026/27 calls ran June to July 2026 in each country; deadlines 26 June 2027 (Timor-Leste) and 15 July 2027 (Guinea-Bissau) (based on this year’s date; confirm on the official page when the call opens) |
| Camões language and culture scholarships | Camões, I.P. | Foreign students, teachers and researchers, plus Portuguese living abroad | Summer courses, annual courses, research (master’s and PhD) | Closed 18 May 2026; deadline 18 May 2027 |
| FCT doctoral grants | FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) | Portuguese, EU, third-country nationals, stateless people, refugees | PhD | 2026 call ran 2 to 31 March 2026; final results due early November 2026; deadline 31 March 2027 |
| DGES higher education grant | DGES (Directorate-General for Higher Education) | Portuguese, EU citizens, permanent or long-term residents, refugees, stateless people, some third-country residents | CTeSP, bachelor’s, integrated master’s, master’s | Main window 14 August to 2 October 2026; late applications to 31 May 2027; main deadline 2 October 2027 |
The CPLP has nine members: those six, plus Portugal, Brazil and Equatorial Guinea. The Camões cooperation scholarships are limited to the six partner countries named above and do not include Brazil. If you hold Portuguese nationality as well as one of those, you cannot apply: every 2026 notice I read excludes dual Portuguese nationals.
Camões cooperation scholarships (Portuguese-speaking African countries and Timor-Leste)
These are the closest thing to a fully funded Portugal government scholarship. Camões, I.P., the cooperation and language institute of Portugal’s foreign ministry, pays a monthly allowance and course costs for students from its partner countries who study at Portuguese public institutions. You do not apply to Lisbon. You apply in your own country, through the education ministry, the national scholarship agency or the Portuguese embassy, and each country sets its own quota, dates and fields.
How much the Camões scholarship pays
The Timor-Leste bachelor’s notice for 2026/2027 lists the current amounts:
| Component | Amount (bachelor’s, 2026/2027) |
|---|---|
| Monthly maintenance allowance | €537.13 |
| Monthly accommodation allowance | €161.14 (or the residence fee if you get a university room) |
| One-time installation allowance | €268.57 |
| Tuition allowance | €697.00 a year |
| Study materials allowance | €214.85 a year |
Master’s and PhD rates are higher, but none of the 2026 notices I could read printed them, so I have left them out. Ask your national scholarship office for the current figures.
Eligibility and 2026 examples
| Country call | Level | Places | Key rules | Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timor-Leste 2026/2027 | Bachelor’s | 4 (plus 4 reserves) | Age 25 or under; secondary average of at least 14/20; tourism and heritage fields; public institutions only; interview in Portuguese | 8 to 26 June 2026 |
| Guinea-Bissau 2026/2027 | Master’s | Not stated | No Portuguese state scholarship in the last 24 months; application in Portuguese by email | 1 to 15 July 2026 |
| Cabo Verde 2025/2026 | Integrated bachelor’s and master’s | 3 | Age 25 or under; final secondary grade of at least 16; financial need | Closed 2 July 2025 |
Rules that appear in every call I checked:
- You must be a national of the partner country and have lived there for at least three consecutive years.
- You must not hold Portuguese nationality, and you sign a DGES declaration confirming it.
- You need enough Portuguese to study in it, because teaching is in Portuguese.
- The scholarship does not guarantee a university place. Bachelor’s candidates still compete for a seat through the DGES national access competition.
The 2026/2027 calls have closed. The deadlines are 26 June 2027 for Timor-Leste and 15 July 2027 for Guinea-Bissau, so watch your ministry’s and the Portuguese embassy’s pages from May 2027.
Camões language and culture scholarships (open to all nationalities)
If you are not from one of the six partner countries, these are the Camões grants you can try for. They are small and specific, and they suit people who already study or teach Portuguese. All 2026 applications ran from 5 to 18 May 2026 (17:00 Lisbon time) through the Camões Portal de Serviços.
| Programme (2026) | Who it is for | What it gives | Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer courses | Foreign students and Portuguese living abroad | In person: €1,150 for the four-week course. Online: course fee paid | 68 (10 in person, 58 online) |
| Research programme | Foreign and Portuguese teachers and researchers living abroad, in Portuguese language and culture | Specialisation (1 month to 1 year), master’s (2 years) or PhD (3 years) in Portugal | 13 |
| Pessoa | Heads of Portuguese studies chairs or departments at foreign universities | €700 a month for 1 to 6 months | 1 |
| Vieira, Fernão Mendes Pinto, annual language courses | Set out in each notice | See the notice on the Camões site | Varies |
The 2026 online summer courses were run with six universities, one per level: Porto (A1), Nova de Lisboa (A2), Aveiro (B1), Minho (B2), Coimbra (C1) and Lisboa (C2). The 2026 window closed on 18 May 2026, so the deadline is 18 May 2027.
FCT PhD scholarships for international students
For a PhD, FCT is the main Portuguese government funder and the most useful one if you come from outside the CPLP. Its doctoral grants are open to Portuguese and EU nationals, third-country nationals, stateless people and recognised refugees. You apply with a Portuguese host institution and supervisor, and the institution validates your application.
- Monthly allowance: €1,309.64 for a PhD grant held in Portugal, from the FCT rate table as quoted in a January 2026 grant notice
- Tuition: FCT pays your enrolment and tuition fees directly to the university
- Insurance: personal accident insurance, plus FCT-paid contributions if you join Portugal’s voluntary social insurance scheme
- Length: renewed yearly, up to 48 months. For a mixed grant, no more than 24 months may be spent abroad
- Requirements: a bachelor’s or master’s degree by the deadline, English proficiency, no previous FCT doctoral grant and no doctorate already
The 2026 national call ran from 2 to 31 March 2026 and funded 1,600 grants: 1,000 in the general line and 600 in the non-academic line, which places PhDs with companies, hospitals, museums and NGOs. FCT received 4,461 applications and approved 36%. Final results are due by early November 2026, and grants can start between 1 September 2026 and 1 August 2027.
FCT also funds doctoral grants that universities advertise themselves, through programme contracts, and these appear on EURAXESS and on university sites throughout the year. One 2026 example at Universidade Aberta ran from 15 April to 31 May 2026. If you missed the March call, these institutional calls are where I would look next.
DGES student grant: why most international students cannot use it
The DGES grant (bolsa de estudo do ensino superior) is Portugal’s means-tested support for students at Portuguese institutions. You apply on the DGES BeOn platform, and the amount depends on household income. It covers CTeSP courses, bachelor’s, integrated master’s and master’s degrees, with at least 30 ECTS of enrolment as a general rule.
To be eligible you must be Portuguese, an EU citizen, a holder of a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident, a political refugee or stateless. Some other third-country nationals living in Portugal can qualify under extra conditions. A student who arrives on a study visa does not fit these categories in their first year. The University of Porto confirms that its SASUP grants exclude students admitted under the international student status.
| DGES 2026/2027 date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 14 August 2026 | Applications opened |
| 2 October 2026 | Main deadline (students who enrol later get 20 working days from enrolment) |
| 3 October 2026 to 31 May 2027 | Late applications, with the grant paid only from the month after you apply |
| 2 October 2027 | Main deadline, for 2027/2028 |
Check before you rely on it
Sites quoting a “€1,250 monthly stipend” or a 30 September deadline for “Portugal government scholarships” are describing the DGES grant. The 2026/2027 deadline was 2 October, and I found no official source for that stipend figure.
University scholarships in Portugal for everyone else
If you are an international student who does not fit the Camões groups and are not applying for a PhD, your realistic options are fee reductions at public universities. They are partial awards.
- The University of Coimbra charges international students €7,000 a year (€18,000 for Medicine) and gives fixed merit discounts of €1,000 to €2,000 a year. Our University of Coimbra guide lists the grade bands.
- The University of Porto offers merit prizes, an incentive prize and a fee reduction for CPLP nationals, set out in our University of Porto scholarships post.
- For a fully funded master’s that includes a Portuguese university, look at Erasmus Mundus joint degrees, which pay €1,400 a month to students of any nationality. See our Erasmus Mundus guide.
How to apply for a Portugal government scholarship
- Find your group: use the first table. Nationality decides almost everything here.
- Camões cooperation: watch your education ministry, scholarship agency and the Portuguese embassy from May. Prepare your ID, proof of three years’ residence, certificates, a signed CV and motivation letter in Portuguese, and the Camões and DGES forms.
- Camões language and culture: create an account on the Camões Portal de Serviços before May and read that year’s notice for your programme.
- FCT PhD: secure a supervisor and host research unit in Portugal by January, then apply in the March call through the FCT platform. Alternatively, answer an institutional FCT grant advert.
- Visa: a Camões or FCT award letter helps prove your means for a Portuguese study or research visa. Apply at the Portuguese consulate in your country once you hold it.
FAQ on Portugal government scholarships
Is there a fully funded Portugal government scholarship for international students?
Yes, but only two kinds. Camões cooperation scholarships fully fund citizens of Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste, and FCT doctoral grants fund PhD students of any nationality.
Can students from non-Portuguese-speaking countries get a Camões scholarship?
Not the cooperation scholarship, which is limited to the six Portuguese-speaking partner countries. Students from any country can try the language and culture grants, such as the summer courses, which open in May.
Do I need to speak Portuguese for a Portugal government scholarship?
For Camões cooperation scholarships, yes: teaching and interviews are in Portuguese. FCT PhD calls ask for English proficiency, and many doctoral programmes are taught in English.
When is the deadline for Portugal government scholarships 2027?
Based on this year’s dates, the deadlines are 31 March 2027 for FCT PhD grants, 18 May 2027 for Camões language grants, 26 June 2027 (Timor-Leste) and 15 July 2027 (Guinea-Bissau) for Camões cooperation calls, and 2 October 2027 for the DGES grant.
Sources and updates
The Camões cooperation amounts and rules come from the 2026/2027 Camões bachelor’s notice published by Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Culture, the 2026/2027 master’s notice for Guinea-Bissau, and Cabo Verde’s 2025 notice. The language and culture programmes and the May 2026 window come from the Camões applications page and its 2026 notices. FCT figures come from FCT’s press releases of 23 February and 31 July 2026, an FCT-funded 2026 doctoral notice at Universidade Aberta, and a January 2026 grant notice quoting the FCT rate table. DGES dates come from the 2026/2027 notice of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, which links to the DGES BeOn platform. Information checked on 24 October 2026. I will update this post when the 2027 calls are published.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
