Portuguese Students want to emigrate after University

Portuguese Students want to emigrate after University
Published:  21 Aug at 9 AM
Recent studies have shown that over 60 per cent of Portugal’s university students wish to leave the country upon graduation.

University student associations across the country carried out the study and found that 69 per cent of its current pupils intend to emigrate once they graduate in the hope of finding better work conditions. The Oporto Academic Federation (FAP) coordinated the study, which pertains to the ‘Professional Mobility and the Internationalisation of Young Labour’.

Results from the preliminary study show that Europe is the favoured destination, although the majority of pupils involved in the study believe that there is no helpful migration information regarding various European countries. This, in turn, this creates a hurdle to employment in these countries.

Reasons given by Portuguese students for wanting to leave include budget adjustments throughout the country and alterations to the economy as a result of the current financial crisis. It was also found that there are more pupils dropping out of the European Erasmus mobilizing programme than ever before.

The majority of students that are thinking about leaving the country are enrolled in engineering and architecture courses, and their preferred locations are within southern America and European countries.

There were 1,751 university students who took part in the study, most of which were aged between 20 and 24. The Oporto Academic Federation study took place between 14 May and 16 June of this year.