Universidade Politécnica de Setúbal

Key Highlights

• Public Portuguese higher-education institution founded in 1979
• Renamed Universidade Politécnica de Setúbal in August 2026
• Six schools operating across Setúbal, Barreiro, and Sines
• Verified 2026/2027 bachelor’s and master’s admissions

Student Life & Environment

Student experience varies by school and city, with the largest concentration of services around the Setúbal campus. The university’s social-action services cover accommodation and other student-support functions. The Santiago student residence is intended primarily for students who must move away from their usual home, with priority determined through the published application and allocation rules. Applications are subject to availability, so admission to the university does not guarantee a room. The residence is located in Manteigadas, approximately two kilometres from the Setúbal campus and five kilometres from central Setúbal, with public transport available. Its published facilities include study and computer rooms, shared kitchens, laundry and common-area cleaning services, heating, security, and rooms adapted for students with reduced mobility. The residence has undergone works, and provisional accommodation arrangements applied during 2025/2026; students entering in 2026/2027 should confirm current capacity and operating arrangements directly with social-action services. Academic community life also includes an academic association and university-organized activities. Career-oriented events, alumni mentoring, employability workshops, and internship promotion create additional contact between students and employers. Students based in Barreiro or Sines should confirm locally available dining, housing, sports, and support services rather than assuming that every Setúbal-campus facility is available at their teaching location.

Location & Surroundings

The university is based in the Setúbal Peninsula, south of Lisbon, but its teaching is distributed rather than confined to one campus. The main campus is at Estefanilha in Setúbal. The School of Technology of Barreiro is in Lavradio, and the institution also teaches in Sines through its school focused on sustainability, industry, and digital technologies. A student’s daily travel, housing search, and access to central services therefore depend on the course’s actual delivery site. Setúbal is a coastal city and an important industrial and service center, giving students access to regional organizations relevant to engineering, logistics, business, education, health, and marine or environmental fields. Barreiro lies on the southern side of the Lisbon metropolitan area and has its own transport connections, while Sines is farther south on the Alentejo coast and is closely associated with port, energy, and industrial activity. Applicants should not choose housing based only on the database city of Setúbal. They should first confirm the responsible school, campus, timetable, and whether any teaching occurs at an additional partner location. The Santiago residence serves the Setúbal area and should not be treated as on-campus housing for every university location.

Costs & Career Outcomes

For 2026/2027, annual tuition for domestic or otherwise eligible national-rate licenciatura students is €697 for daytime or post-work study and €522.75 for the reduced-credit evening regime. The published international rate is €1,350 for licenciaturas in the technology, education, business, and Barreiro schools, including the listed evening and post-work formats. International students in daytime health-school licenciaturas are charged €2,700. A €45 enrollment charge, including school insurance, is listed for national-access bachelor’s entrants. These figures are tuition and specified academic charges only; they do not include housing, meals, transport, books, visa expenses, or personal costs. Master’s tuition varies by school, course, year, and credit load, so applicants should consult the 2026/2027 fee decision and the individual course notice. Residence prices for 2026/2027 were not verified in the selected current sources. Housing is limited and allocated by social-action criteria, meaning students should prepare an alternative budget rather than assume subsidized accommodation. The university provides a career service offering individual guidance, employability-skills development, an employment portal, summer-internship promotion, an annual employability week, and alumni mentoring. Its observatory follows graduates’ transition into working life. These resources can help students find opportunities, but they are not a placement guarantee. No sufficiently current, independently comparable program-level salary or employment-rate data were verified for this profile, so applicants should assess career outcomes by specific course and occupation.