Study Medicine in Porto – Universidade Fernando Pessoa

Universidade Fernando Pessoa is a private university in Porto, founded in 1996, with around 5,000 students. The six-year Medicine programme is taught in English. In the first three years, students also take Portuguese classes up to B2, as clinical training requires the language. Practical elements are part of the curriculum from the very start. Admission is based on the university's own selection procedure.

Dean and professors

The Escola de Medicina e Ciências Biomédicas of Universidade Fernando Pessoa is led by Prof. Doutor Lúcio Lara Santos. The surgeon and oncologist graduated in medicine from the Universidade de Angola in 1985, earned his doctorate in medicine at the University of Porto in 2003 and heads the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto (IPO Porto); in May 2025 he was also elected Portugal's representative on the Scientific Council of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for a four-year term.

• Prof. Doutor Mário Dinis-Ribeiro – gastroenterologist, head of the Gastroenterology Department at IPO Porto and, from 2019 to 2021, the first Portuguese President of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE).
• Prof. Doutor Humberto Machado – anaesthesiologist and head of the Department of Anaesthesiology at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António in Porto.
• Prof. Doutor Antero Fernandes – intensive care specialist, former President of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Cuidados Intensivos and head of the intensive care unit at Hospital Garcia de Orta from 1996 to 2021, with 68 scientific publications and more than 1,700 citations in his field.

• Medicine: The Medicine programme leads to a medical degree. The pre-clinical phase establishes the scientific foundations; the clinical phase adds patient-facing work.

The programme lasts six years. Years one and two focus on the pre-clinical phase with anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, histology and embryology, and practical elements are part of the curriculum from the very start. From the third year, the clinical phase follows with internal medicine, surgery, paediatrics, gynaecology, neurology and psychiatry. In the first three years you also take Portuguese classes up to B2, because clinical training requires the language. The final year is practical and works like a full clinical internship year.

The basic requirement for placement at this location is a general higher-education entrance qualification. When placed through Medschool Experts, there is no separate entrance test. Get in touch to find out whether we can place you at this university, and book a free study consultation.

The tuition fee is 10,250 EUR per semester. Before making any decision, ask the International Office to confirm the amount in writing, specifying whether accommodation, insurance, and registration fees are included.

Additional one-off costs include the application fee, visa, health insurance, travel, and usually a deposit for accommodation. Budget approx. 700 to 900 EUR per month for living costs.

Portugal is a member of the European Union, so a degree from Universidade Fernando Pessoa in Porto falls under the Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC and is recognised automatically throughout the EU/EEA and in Switzerland. No equivalence assessment or knowledge test is required.

You apply for your licence to practise with the competent authority of the country where you want to work. Most countries ask for proof of medical-level proficiency in their national language, and processing times vary.

With your licence, you can start specialist training on the same terms as graduates of domestic medical schools. Besides your English-taught degree, you leave Porto with Portuguese at B2 level — which also opens up the Portuguese-speaking world, while within the EU you are free to choose where you train.

Take the blue metro line to Matosinhos Sul and you are standing on the Atlantic. The ride from the centre to Praia de Matosinhos, a wide sandy beach facing the open ocean, takes about 25 minutes. If you prefer to stay above ground, bus 500 from Praça da Liberdade takes you straight from the city centre to the coast.

The climate is oceanic and pleasantly balanced: January averages about 9 °C, August around 21–22 °C. Neither scorching heat nor hard frost is part of everyday life, which makes Porto a city where you spend time outdoors all year round — by the Douro river, in the Ribeira district or at the beach.

Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO) is only about 11 kilometres from the centre and directly connected by metro. From there, direct flights serve many European cities, operated by airlines such as TAP, Ryanair and easyJet.