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Objective: to compare different perceptions of Brazilian and Portuguese health students about health promotion in the university., Method: cross-sectional, descriptive analytical study that included 669 university students in the health courses of two universities, one Brazilian and the other Portuguese. The Instrument of Assessment for Health Promotion at University was used in both institutions and the comparisons were performed with the Chi-square test and odds ratio estimation., Results: there was a predominance of students aged up to 24 years (89.2%) and females (78.3%). In general, Portuguese university students have better perceptions of the physical activity, eating habits and psychosocial factors domains ( p  < 0.001). Brazilian university students presented better perceptions in the domains of environmental factors and complementary and alternative therapies ( p  < 0.001)., Conclusions: the results show that Brazilian and Portuguese students have significant differences in their perception of aspects related to health promotion at university. It is concluded that the university environment is a promising field to carry out educational practices that promote health and that this context differs between countries., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.