Type Portugal scholarships without IELTS 2027 into a search engine and you’ll find dozens of near-identical articles claiming that “Portuguese universities usually don’t require IELTS” as a blanket statement, with no real distinction between which institutions, programmes, or degree levels that actually applies to. It’s a half-truth built on a real pattern — Portugal genuinely does have a strong tradition of accepting a Medium of Instruction (MOI) certificate in place of a fresh test — but treating it as a country-wide guarantee rather than a programme-by-programme policy is exactly how applicants end up caught out mid-application.

What makes Portugal genuinely attractive for international student financial aid planning isn’t just the flexible English documentation — it’s the combination of that flexibility with tuition fees that run meaningfully lower than most of Western Europe, typically between €2,500 and €7,000 per year for international students, alongside a cost of living that consistently ranks as one of the more affordable options among Tier-1 European study destinations. That combination matters more once you factor in the country’s D4 student visa financial proof requirement and mandatory health insurance, since a lower baseline cost of living genuinely changes how much you need to demonstrate in savings before your visa is even approved.

This guide walks through exactly which Portugal scholarships for international students without IELTS genuinely exist for 2027 — from the national research funding agency’s PhD fellowships to individual university merit awards at the University of Porto, the University of Lisbon, and the University of Coimbra — along with what each one actually asks for in terms of an English Proficiency Certificate or an accepted alternative test.

The Pattern Worth Knowing Before Anything Else

Portugal’s public universities set their English-proficiency policy at the faculty level, not university-wide — meaning the same institution can have one department that happily accepts an MOI letter and another that insists on a standardized test, sometimes for programmes sitting in the same building. Rather than assuming a blanket “Portugal doesn’t need IELTS” rule, the more useful habit is checking your specific target faculty’s admissions page directly, or emailing them, before building an application strategy around an assumption.

The Scholarships

1. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia PhD Fellowship
A monthly stipend (typically in the range of €1,400 to €1,600), health insurance, and social security contributions, for full-time doctoral research conducted at Portuguese universities and research centres.
🔗 fct.pt/apoios/bolsas
Because this scholarship funds a research position rather than coursework, your English proficiency is typically assessed through your research proposal and correspondence with a potential supervisor — securing that supervisor relationship before applying matters more to your outcome than which specific English test you hold.

2. University of Porto Merit Scholarships
Tuition support and financial aid distributed across undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral levels, alongside need-based awards administered through the university’s own Social Services division.
🔗 up.pt/portal/en/study/international-students
Each University of Porto faculty sets its own admission requirements under the university’s broader Regulation on the Application of International Student Status, which means your accepted English documentation genuinely depends on which of Porto’s faculties you’re applying into, not a single institution-wide rule.

3. University of Porto Special Call for International Students
A dedicated admissions pathway offering 712 vacancies across nearly all Bachelor’s degree and Integrated Master’s programmes for the 2026/2027 academic year, spread across three separate application phases.
🔗 up.pt/portal/en/study/international-students/special-call-for-applications
This isn’t a scholarship in the traditional cash-award sense, but a genuinely useful admissions route worth knowing about — it’s structured specifically for international applicants rather than routing you through Portugal’s standard national entrance exam system.

4. University of Lisbon International Scholarships
Funding for Master’s and PhD-level international students across the university’s broad range of academic fields, alongside participation in national and EU-level scholarship frameworks.
🔗 ulisboa.pt/en/international
As Portugal’s largest university, the University of Lisbon’s sheer size means English-proficiency policy varies noticeably between its constituent faculties — confirm your specific target school’s requirements directly rather than assuming a single university-wide standard.

5. University of Coimbra Merit Undergraduate International Scholarship
Tuition and living cost support for approximately 200 academically outstanding international undergraduate applicants annually.
🔗 uc.pt/en/international/scholarships
One of Portugal’s oldest universities (founded in 1290), Coimbra’s scholarship selection weighs prior academic performance heavily, and applicants coming from an English-medium secondary or undergraduate background have historically found the university receptive to MOI-based documentation for its increasing number of English-taught programmes.

6. NOVA University Lisbon International Scholarships
Merit and need-based tuition support for international students across NOVA’s business, science, and social science programmes.
🔗 unl.pt/en/study/scholarships
NOVA has built a genuinely strong reputation specifically for English-taught Master’s programmes in economics and business, making it a practical target if you’re relying on prior English-medium education as your primary proficiency documentation.

7. Carnegie Mellon Portugal PhD Fellowship
Full funding covering tuition, a competitive stipend, and research costs, for doctoral students in a joint programme between Carnegie Mellon University and Portuguese institutions across engineering and computer science.
🔗 cmuportugal.org
Because this programme is run jointly with an American university and taught entirely in English, its own admissions process tends to follow familiar US-style holistic review — a transcript proving prior English-medium education carries real weight here alongside your research background.

8. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarships
Grants supporting international students and researchers in selected academic and cultural fields, administered by one of Portugal’s most prominent private foundations.
🔗 gulbenkian.pt/en
A genuinely distinctive option among this list given its cultural and arts-sector focus alongside traditional academic fields — check current call terms directly, since the foundation’s funding priorities shift periodically based on its own strategic focus areas.

9. Instituto Camões Scholarships
Funding for students pursuing Portuguese language and culture studies, aimed at strengthening ties between Portugal and the wider Portuguese-speaking world.
🔗 instituto-camoes.pt
Worth including specifically because IELTS is genuinely irrelevant here — these programmes are Portuguese-medium by design, so the actual proficiency documentation that matters is Portuguese-language ability, not English, similar to how this series has treated Sorbonne’s French-taught programmes or the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques scholarship’s Arabic-medium tracks.

10. Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees
A stipend of approximately €1,400 per month, full tuition, and a travel allowance, for joint Master’s degrees delivered across two or more European countries, with several consortia including Portuguese partner universities.
🔗 eacea.ec.europa.eu/scholarships/erasmus-mundus-catalogue_en
Several consortia explicitly exempt applicants from English-speaking countries or graduates of English-medium institutions from a formal test entirely — check the specific programme’s page in the catalogue, since this exemption varies consortium by consortium rather than applying across the whole Portugal-linked programme list.

Getting Your English Documentation Right

If you’re relying on prior education rather than a fresh test, request an official English Proficiency Certificate or MOI letter from your previous institution’s registrar, confirming your degree was delivered wholly in English on headed and stamped paper. Where that route doesn’t apply to your specific case, the Duolingo English Test has become an increasingly common accepted alternative across Portuguese institutions, with a score of roughly 95 or higher generally treated as comparable to a solid IELTS band.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all Portuguese universities genuinely not require IELTS?
No — this is the oversimplification worth pushing back against. Requirements are set faculty by faculty and programme by programme, so while MOI letters and alternative tests are widely accepted across Portugal, some specific programmes still require a standardized test regardless of your prior education.

Does the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia fellowship application require a standardized English test?
Not as a fixed rule — because the fellowship funds research rather than coursework, your English communication ability is typically demonstrated through your research proposal and correspondence with your prospective supervisor, though individual host institutions may still request formal proof separately.

Will Portugal’s student visa process check my English proficiency separately?
No. Portugal’s D4 student visa process focuses on your enrollment certificate, proof of financial means (including the D4 visa’s specific savings threshold), and health insurance coverage — your English proficiency was already assessed and settled during university admission.

Is Portugal genuinely cheaper than other Western European study destinations?
Generally yes — tuition fees for international students typically fall between €2,500 and €7,000 per year, noticeably lower than comparable programmes in France, Germany, or the Netherlands, and Portugal’s cost of living outside Lisbon tends to run lower than most other major Western European study destinations as well.

What These Scholarships Typically Don’t Cover

Even Portugal’s more generous funding programmes tend to leave gaps that catch students off guard. Budget separately for the D4 student visa’s financial proof requirement, mandatory health insurance for the duration of your stay, and — particularly if you’re heading to Lisbon rather than a smaller university city — a cost of living that has risen noticeably in recent years despite Portugal’s overall affordability reputation. A service like Wise is worth using specifically for moving stipend payments or family-supported funds into a euro account without the markup a traditional international bank transfer typically carries.

Timing Worth Knowing

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia typically runs its PhD fellowship calls on an annual or biannual cycle, with specific dates varying by call type — check the current announcement directly on their portal rather than assuming a fixed recurring date. University of Porto’s Special Call for International Students runs across three separate application phases within the academic cycle, giving you more than one entry point if you miss the first window. University of Coimbra and NOVA University Lisbon generally align their scholarship consideration with each programme’s own standard admissions calendar rather than running a separate, later scholarship-specific deadline.

Before You Apply

  • Check your specific target faculty’s admissions page directly rather than assuming a blanket “Portugal doesn’t need IELTS” policy applies university-wide
  • Request your English Proficiency Certificate or MOI letter from your previous institution’s registrar on headed and stamped paper
  • If pursuing a Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia fellowship, contact a potential supervisor before applying, since this matters more to your outcome than your test scores
  • Confirm whether your target programme is Portuguese-medium (relevant for Instituto Camões-style funding) or English-medium before assuming IELTS is even the right document to prepare
  • Budget separately for Portugal’s D4 visa financial proof requirement and health insurance, since not every scholarship on this list bundles these in
  • Re-verify every scholarship’s current deadline and eligibility criteria directly on the official link before applying, since Portuguese universities revise these terms periodically
Scholarships Without IELTS