At the School of Technology and Management (ESTiG), a Bachelor’s degree – 1st cycle of higher education studies – comprises 180 ECTS credits, with 1 credit corresponding to 27 hours, distributed across 6 academic semesters (3 years), with 20 weeks of study per semester, on a full-time basis (40 hours per week).

The Bachelor’s degree is awarded to students who, by successfully completing all the course units included in the study plan, have obtained 180 credits, demonstrating the ability to:

1. develop and deepen the knowledge acquired;
2. apply the knowledge acquired in order to demonstrate a professional approach to the work carried out;
3. solve problems and build and support their own arguments;
4. collect, select and interpret relevant information that enables the justification of proposed solutions and judgments made, including the analysis of relevant social, scientific and ethical aspects;
5. communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;
6. develop skills that enable lifelong learning with a high degree of autonomy.

Students, both national and international, may apply for a Bachelor’s degree at ESTiG through the general access regime if they have successfully completed secondary education (or a legally equivalent national or foreign qualification) and have taken the required entry examinations, obtaining a grade of 95 points or higher. There are also special access regimes to higher education for high-performance athletes, Portuguese citizens on official missions abroad, national and foreign officials on diplomatic missions, officers of the Portuguese Armed Forces, and scholarship holders under cooperation agreements established by the Portuguese State.

In addition to the general access regime and special regimes, there are special admission competitions for candidates who meet specific qualification requirements, enabling new groups of students to access higher education within a lifelong learning perspective:

• adults aged 23 or over who have successfully passed special examinations designed to assess their ability to attend higher education;
• holders of a Technological Specialisation Course (post-secondary non-higher education course);
• holders of a Higher Professional Technical Course (higher education programme at level 5).

The Bachelor’s degree allows graduates to pursue postgraduate studies, namely programmes leading to a Master’s degree – 2nd cycle of higher education studies.