The Medicine courses are losing attractiveness to cutting-edge technology courses, as revealed by the results of the first phase of access to higher education.
While last year there was a Medicine course with the second highest entry average in the country – that of the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Porto, with a score of 18.68, surpassed only by Aerospace Engineering at the University of Minho –, in 2024 the same course dropped to the eighth position, although with a minimum entry score similar to that of 2023: 18.55.
Ahead of Medicine are now several courses linked to cutting-edge technologies, although all have fewer vacancies than Medicine. Most notably, the new Aerospace Engineering course at the University of Porto, which, in its first year of operation, filled its 30 vacancies in this first placement phase, requiring an average score of 19.45. Immediately following in the rankings is the same course at Minho (with 31 vacancies), followed by Applied Mathematics to Economics and Management, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Aerospace Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico, Industrial Engineering and Management, and Architecture at the University of Porto. The Medicine degrees at Porto (ICBAS and Faculty of Medicine) and Minho occupy the last three spots on the list of the ten courses with the highest entry averages.
The decline in the attractiveness of Medicine (as indicated by the drop in the latest entry score) is considered worrying by the rector of the University of Porto, António de Sousa Pereira, who has previously headed the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, ICBAS. The difficulty of the profession may help explain what is happening, but the academic also points to other factors that lead to some students not entering the National Health Service after their training. “France periodically holds medical fairs at Portuguese universities,” he notes, trying to attract recent graduates for emigration.
A scientist’s grant helped launch the course
The fact that the number of students now enrolled in different Medicine courses is the highest ever – 1661 new students entered these degree programs, 66 more than in 2023 – does not reassure the rector. Part of this outcome can be explained by the University of Aveiro opening a new course this year, with 40 vacancies.
Candidates for Medicine who already have a previous degree in another area have been decreasing in recent years, emphasizes Sousa Pereira, who believes this is another indicator of disinterest in this course.
“It is misleading to say that the problem of the lack of doctors will be solved by opening more places at universities, when not all students manage to specialize, due to university hospitals that have lost their ability to do so,” criticizes the rector of the University of Porto.
Regarding the Aerospace Engineering course, he explains that it opens this year at the University of Porto thanks to a grant of 3.5 million euros awarded by the European Research Council to Pedro Camanho, a scientist from the University of Porto, which allowed the procurement of cutting-edge equipment. The higher education institution prides itself on maintaining joint research projects with aerospace companies for several years.
However, the University of Porto also has courses that are not in high demand, such as Geospatial Engineering, a branch related to georeferencing. Of the 23 vacancies opened this year, only three have been filled so far. The rector believes they will all be filled in the subsequent placement phases.