Since 2009, a new scholarship system has been introduced at the University of Porto in order to reward the best students. Merit scholarships can be earned by any student that complies with the requirements of the University. A faculty that has less than 500 students enrolled will be able to award one merit scholarship, while faculties with more than 500 students will mathematically divide the number of students by 500 and round down the final number to find out the number of scholarships that are awarded.
Students that aim for a merit scholarship should have excellent results during their previous year of study, achieving all the 60 ECTS credits awarded by their curriculum. All the curricular units must be passed and the average ratings received by professors of each unit should not be lower than “Very Good.”