Catolica Medical School, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa: FAQ

Yes. The WHO World Directory of Medical Schools confirms admission follows completion of secondary education, with no prior university degree required.

Pre-clinical years (1-3) are confirmed English-medium by multiple official sources. The university's own programme overview states the clinical component (Years 4-6) is delivered in Portuguese, so functional Portuguese will likely be needed for clinical-year patient contact.

Indian secondary qualifications are not on the university's published list of recognized equivalent exams (which includes Cambridge AICE, IB, European Baccalaureate, AP and Brazil's ENEM). Indian applicants would likely need to sit the university's own in-person entrance exams in Biology, Physics and Chemistry, and Mathematics, conducted in English.

The university's more recently updated application pages state a minimum CEFR B2 (IELTS Academic 5.5, TOEFL iBT 72, or equivalent), though an older summary page states CEFR C1 -- this inconsistency is unresolved on the official site, so confirm the current requirement directly with the university.

EUR 24,350 per year for international students (EUR 2,435/month over 10 instalments), confirmed current for the 2026/27 academic year, plus a one-time EUR 430 application fee and a EUR 1,710 first-year (EUR 1,680 later years) enrollment/registration fee.

The university publishes merit-based and need-based annual scholarships, including full-tuition Study Grants, assessed by its Social Responsibility Office based on application grade and household economic situation. Exact eligibility terms and amounts specifically for international applicants were not itemized separately from domestic applicants on the official page.

The Non-EU international-applicant track runs a single application window from 8 July to 31 August 2026, with results published 7 September 2026 and classes beginning 8 September 2026. Only 9 places are available on this track.

Yes. In addition to a motivation letter/portfolio, applicants must attend a mandatory in-person Mini Multiple Interview at the Sintra campus, conducted in English.

Graduates become eligible to apply for ECFMG Certification from 2027. The degree is expected to fall under Portugal's EU Directive 2005/36/EC automatic-recognition framework for medical qualifications, though the exact current Annex V listing of this specific post-Bologna degree title was not independently confirmed during research. For India specifically, graduates would need to separately satisfy India's National Medical Commission screening requirements; this was not verified against an NMC source, and no graduates of this programme exist yet to test that pathway.