The Portuguese Ministry of Education says universities and polytechnic institutes in Portugal have given places to 1,117 Chinese students in the current academic year.

Data collected by the ministry indicate that 1,066 of the students are Mainland Chinese, making Mainland China the 13th-biggest source of foreign students studying in Portuguese institutions of higher education.

The data indicate that 39 of the Chinese students are from Macao, 8 from Taiwan and 4 from Hong Kong.

The biggest sources of foreign tertiary students studying in Portugal are Brazil, Angola and Spain, the Ministry of Education says –13,785 of the students being Brazilians, 3,721 Angolans and 3,721 Spanish.