Grande Colégio Universal tops Portugal's 2025 exam ranking, first public school 38th

Grande Colégio Universal leads again

The Grande Colégio Universal in Porto ranks first in the Lusa ranking of 2025 exam results for a second consecutive year, with an average of 16.93 out of 20 across 231 exams in 16 subjects. The ranking covers almost 600 schools that sat more than 100 exams, and national averages rose in both public and private schools. Behind it, the Colégio Nossa Senhora do Rosário holds second place with 16.59 and the Colégio Efanor in Matosinhos is third with 16.32. The Academia de Música de Santa Cecília takes fourth place and is the best-placed school in the Lisbon area.

Grande Colégio Universal16.93

Colégio Nossa Senhora do Rosário16.59

Colégio Efanor16.32

Conservatório de Música do Porto (best public school)14.01

Grande Colégio Universal

16.93 points (0-20 scale)

Colégio Nossa Senhora do Rosário

16.59 points (0-20 scale)

Colégio Efanor

16.32 points (0-20 scale)

Conservatório de Música do Porto (best public school)

14.01 points (0-20 scale)

Data from the article text

The first public school

Among 479 public and 91 private schools in the Lusa list, the best public school sits 38th: the Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música do Porto, which averaged 14.01 across 121 exams. In the previous ranking, the top public school was 33rd with 13.85. The conservatory has 1,025 students from 14 nationalities, spanning grades 1 to 12, and its director, Marco Pereira, credits the results to organised staff and to students who build work routines early. Portuguese teacher Helena Vouga linked the results to early music training and to lighter homework loads that leave students time for their instruments.

“That can help them become better students.”

Different rankings, different leaders

Observador, working with Nova SBE on official data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, counts only schools that sat at least 20 national exams. Its top 50 contains three public schools, and the first is the Escola Básica e Secundária de Vale do Tamel in Lijó, Barcelos, at line 44, which makes public schools 6% of the top 50. Seven of the first 10 schools are in the North. The top 50 includes 23 northern schools, 22 in Greater Lisbon, four in the Centre and one in the Algarve. At the bottom, the Escola Secundária da Baixa da Banheira in Moita, Setúbal district, is last again, and eight of the last 10 schools are public.

North23

Greater Lisbon22

Centre4

Algarve1

North

23 schools

Greater Lisbon

22 schools

Centre

4 schools

Algarve

1 schools

Data from the article text

SIC and Expresso, which analyse only schools with 80 or more exams, place the first public school 34th, with an average above 14 points.

Exams against internal grades

Lusa's analysis of 567 public and private schools with available data found 21 where the gap between the exam average and the internal grade was under one point. All 21 are private, and 19 of them are among the top 30 exam averages. At the Grande Colégio Universal, the internal average was 16.89 and the exam average 16.93, a gap of 0.04 points. By contrast, 79 schools had a gap above four points, and most of them (59%) are among the lowest-ranked, with negative averages on the national exams.

Publication and equity

The ministry had sought to publish the ranking earlier the previous year, but this year the data came out only after pressure from several media outlets. The minister attributes the delay to problems with digital corrections of the national exams. Observador reported that two-thirds of Portuguese schools recorded a rise in their average, that Portuguese exam grades rose consistently while Mathematics fell, and that the number of schools with results below expectations in the equity ranking rose from 139 to 148.