International MSc in Management

Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics placed 30th worldwide in the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025 ranking, with a weighted three-year salary of approximately US $101,000 and a 95% employment rate at three months.⁴ Founded in 1972 as part of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, it became the first Portuguese school — and one of very few in Southern Europe — to earn triple-crown accreditation from AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA simultaneously.³

Overview

The International MSc in Management is a three-semester, fully English-taught programme delivered from Católica Lisbon’s campus in the heart of Lisbon.¹ It is designed for early-career graduates and professionals with limited work experience who are looking for an internationally recognised management credential — typically candidates aged 21 to 26 from more than 60 nationalities represented across the school’s master programmes.¹

The programme sits within a school with a clear international orientation: its faculty are research-active in global journals, its recruiter network spans continental Europe, North America, and beyond, and its location in Lisbon places students in one of Europe’s fastest-growing business and technology hubs. For a broader look at whether a MiM is the right credential for you, see our guide on whether a MiM is worth it in 2026.

Curriculum & Structure

The standard programme runs over three semesters, opening with a core management curriculum that covers strategy, finance, marketing, organisational behaviour, and quantitative methods.¹ The structure is designed to build a rigorous generalist foundation before allowing students to develop depth through elective courses and a final project or dissertation.¹

A four-semester option is available for students who wish to include a full exchange semester at one of Católica Lisbon’s international partner universities.² This track costs €19,500 compared to €16,900 for the standard track, and is well suited to students who want structured international exposure built into their degree rather than sourcing an exchange independently.² The four-semester variant is particularly relevant for students targeting roles in international firms or considering careers outside Portugal, and it mirrors the structure common at other high-ranked European MiM programmes. For a closer look at how to build the kind of profile that gets admitted to top MiM programmes, see our piece on how to build a MiM profile.

Application & Deadlines

Católica Lisbon admits to the International MSc in Management for a single September intake and reviews applications on a rolling basis, with rounds typically opening in October and running through approximately April.¹ Because places and scholarships are allocated as rounds close, applying in an early round — ideally by the end of the first or second round — is strongly advised. The cohort can fill before the final round, so late applicants face a meaningfully higher risk of either rejection or reduced scholarship access. Dates for the 2027/28 intake are not yet published.

Tuition & Funding

The standard three-semester programme costs €16,900 in tuition, plus a €120 admission fee.² The four-semester exchange track costs €19,500 in total.² These figures are among the most competitive in the FT top 30, making Católica Lisbon a particularly strong option on a cost-adjusted basis relative to its ranking. Lisbon’s cost of living is also substantially lower than Amsterdam, London, or Paris, which is a relevant factor when comparing total cost of attendance across top-30 European programmes.

One caveat on those numbers, and it matters. They were read off Católica’s fees and scholarships page in June 2026. Re-read on 29 August 2026, that page no longer publishes a standard-track price at all — it now lists only the double-degree routes, and states that its prices are “based on the prices for the 2025 Intake, which may be subject to change”.² So the €16,900 and €19,500 above are our last verified reading, not a figure the school is currently advertising, and we have left them in place rather than replace a real number with a guess. Anyone budgeting against them should confirm the standard-track fee with the school directly.

We went looking again on 30 August 2026, along four separate routes, and the answer came back the same each time: the English fees page, its Portuguese-language twin, the equivalent page for the sibling International MSc in Finance, and Universidade Católica Portuguesa’s own central tuition hub all publish double-degree tables only, still labelled 2025 intake.² ⁷ ⁸ That pattern across sibling programmes reads as a deliberate change in what the school publishes, not a broken page — which is why we are treating the absence as the finding rather than waiting for it to correct itself. One figure did survive the re-check: the €120 admission fee is still stated on Católica’s own admissions page, where it is described as non-refundable and a condition of your application being considered at all.⁹ That page also noted, on the day we read it, that applications for the 2026 intake are closed, so the next cycle is the live one.⁹

What the page does publish now is the double-degree ladder, which is a useful reference point in its own right because it is the only current pricing Católica states. The four standard partner routes — Aston Business School, BI Norwegian Business School, FGV EBAPE and Kozminski University — total €21,900: an annual registration fee of €700 plus €10,375 in tuition in year one, then €450 plus €10,375 in year two, with year-one tuition paid in ten instalments from September to June.² The premium routes run higher: WU Vienna €21,924.70, Smith School of Business €23,042, WHU – Otto Beisheim €27,400, Bocconi €27,765 and ESCP €30,310, each bundling a partner-programme cost of around €5,500 on top.² Scholarships apply only to the tuition components, not to registration or partner-programme costs.²

Career Outcomes

The Financial Times 2025 ranking reports a weighted three-year salary of approximately US $101,000 and a 95% employment rate at three months for Católica Lisbon MiM graduates.⁴ These are the FT’s standardised cross-school metrics, calculated on salaries reported three years after graduation. Católica Lisbon does not publish its own salary figure, so the FT figure is the primary benchmark available. The school separately reports a 99% employment rate within six months of graduation.³

The recruiter list is notably strong for a programme of this price point. Officially published employers include McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company in consulting; Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan in investment banking; Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC across professional services; and Google, Microsoft, Amazon, L’Oréal, Nestlé, and P&G in technology and consumer goods.⁵ No industry percentage breakdown is officially published by the school. For an honest look at MiM earnings trajectories and how they compare to MBA outcomes, see our piece on MiM vs MBA.

Campus & Reputation

Católica Lisbon’s campus is located in central Lisbon, Portugal’s capital and a city that has become a significant European hub for technology, finance, and entrepreneurship over the past decade. The school’s triple-crown status — holding AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA simultaneously — is a credential recognised by graduate recruiters and partner schools globally, and its position as the first Portuguese school to achieve this distinction reflects the sustained investment in research quality and programme standards since its founding in 1972.¹ ³

The FT #30 rank places Católica Lisbon firmly in the European top tier, ahead of several well-known schools in larger markets, and its combination of ranking, triple-crown accreditation, low tuition, and Lisbon location makes it one of the more compelling value propositions in the current FT table. For practical tips on converting a strong academic profile into MiM offers, see our guide on career tips for MiM graduates.