The sky over Lisbon is gray and Rossio is dressed in trench coats and academic attire. Just over a kilometer away, in the Assembly of the Republic, deputies are discussing the State Budget for 2026. There are also hundreds of students from across the country who this Tuesday demonstrated in the capital against the unfreezing and increase in tuition fees, announced by the Government in September.
The objective of the demonstration, organized by the student association movement, is clear: to reverse the increase of 13 euros that in the 2026/2027 academic year will make the value of tuition fees rise from 697 euros (amount unchanged since 2020) to 710 euros.
“The value of tuition fees these days is a big barrier for students”, says Violeta Gregório, president of the Student Association of the School of Arts and Design of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (AESAD.CR). “This year there were 9 thousand fewer applicants for higher education, last academic year there were at least 36 million euros in fees unpaid. This increase is going in the exact opposite direction to that which the students point out.”
University of Porto
Violeta is a scholarship holder and ensures that the value of the minimum bagcorresponding to 125% of the maximum tuition fee (871 euros), is not enough to cover a student’s expenses. “The number of scholarship holders who receive the minimum scholarship is very large and this scholarship does not cover the difficulties that students experience”, he explains.
“How does the reinforcement of 30 million euros that the minister claims to allocate to social action seem sufficient to us when, in bribes alone, 36 million euros remain unpaid?”, he asks.
It is 2:50 pm and the protesters begin to organize themselves into a line that, at 3:15 pm, departure time, occupied the entire length of Praça D. Pedro IV.
The protesters left Praça D. Pedro IV, in Rossio
João Revas
“Fees and Bologna”, we hear. These are the first words of order. “It’s all a shame”, the protesters exclaim in unison, by way of response. Some carry posters that would later end up getting soaked. Others took precautions and have protest messages written on t-shirts: “No one is left behind. The bribes are to end, not to increase”, reads one of them.
Along the sidewalk of downtown Pombaline, the path was made with microphones, flags and a desire for change that is not new. In 1992, the Government, led at the time by Aníbal Cavaco Silvaproposed that fees – which appeared that year – increase from 1200 escudos (around 6.5 euros) to around 50,000 escudos (250 euros). This was followed by the famous demonstrations of the “Rasca Generation”, which deposed two ministers in the following three years. Thirty-three years later, history repeats itself.
“Students are here today mainly against the increase in tuition fees, but also to claim their rights as higher education students”, points out Carolina Ferreira, from the Student Association of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon (AEFLUL). “Whether due to the lack of residences, the lack of beds, the lack of social action or the precariousness of institutions”.
Students in protest, at a time when they squat together
João Revas
Inês Jorge, from the Student Association of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (AEFCSH), also recalls the gaps in the State Budget for 2026: “The National Plan for Accommodation in Higher Education (PNAES) is not even included in this State Budget, and it is necessary to take into account the percentage of the plan that has already been fulfilled [11% em março]which is really very low and will end at the end of this year”.
At 3:45 pm, hundreds (although fewer than at the beginning) of students arrived at the base of the steps of the Assembly of the Republic. Soaked by intense rain When it was felt, they stopped in front of the building while some academic leaders gave words of support and launched more slogans. About half an hour later, after Grândola Vila Morena sounded, the demonstration demobilized.
From the University of Aveiro to the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto-Douro, dozens of student associations were in Lisbon, representing the country from north to south.
Text written by André Sousa and edited by Mafalda Ganhão
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