(information for exchange students)
UFP uses ECTS credit system

Grading Scale

20 point grading system is applied for assessment of examinations, projects, essays, tests and other tasks. Knowledge is assessed through continuous evaluation. In the Portuguese System, the marks of the university examinations are expressed out of twenty – the pass mark is 10/20 and the highest is 20/2

Class attendance for students is mandatory.

Teachers have the responsibility for class attendance control. Class attendance is mandatory in, at least, 40% of the given lessons. In practical and laboratorial courses, presence in at least 70% of classes is required. In the Health Sciences Faculty, class attendance is mandatory to 60% of theoretical classes, 80% of practical and laboratorial courses and 90 % of clinical courses.

The written excuses for non-attendance, by legally accepted means, do not dismiss the student from attending the above stated percentage of practical-laboratorial and clinical classes.

Evaluation and grading system

1. The achievement by students of proposed objectives at each curricular unit is subject to evaluation.

2. The objectives are set by teachers in each of their curricular unit’s programme, namely concerning the way in which the established ECTS can be achieved and the competences that the student must possess in order to be approved.

3. The evaluation of a curricular unit shall integrate different means of controlling knowledge evolution and achievement by the student of target- competences.
3.1 If the curricular unit integrates a lecture component, the evaluation stated in the programme is made continuously by assessing the achievement of established objectives, through the student’s performance in classes, tutorial sessions, orientation sessions, executed works, written and/or oral tests, participation in scientific colloquia, seminars, conferences, congresses and other means of understanding of cultural and informational development.
3.1.1 All evaluation activities shall be given credits (ECTS), duly proportional to the number of total credits of the curricular unit.
3.2 The student’s performance in practical-laboratorial classes is evaluated by the quantity and the quality of autonomous execution of protocols and works preformed in those classes, targeting the acquisition of effective competences in the referring scientific area.
3.2.1 The use of a lab-coat (UFP model) is mandatory in practical-laboratorial classes.
3.3 Clinical learning, achieved by traineeships, clinical and/or professional practices at the university’s pedagogical clinics or at associated Health Units, is evaluated continuously and systematically, considering the following aspects:
a) attendance, punctuality, and behaviour when seeing a patient;
b) scientific, technical and relationship competences;
c) quality of clinical work;
d) management and tidiness of workspace.
3.3.1 Minimum class attendance and other regulatory aspects of clinical learning are presented in the procedure manual and in the protocol-agenda for register of pedagogical execution, which all students in that situation must keep.
3.3.2 The criteria of evaluation and weighing of each above-mentioned element shall be shown in the protocol-agenda.
3.3.3 The use of a uniform (UFP previously approved model) is mandatory in all clinical and/or professional sessions.

4. Only “non-approved” lecture teaching components or curricular units can be subject to a re-appreciation exam, in a special exam period established in the academic calendar.
4.1 These re-appreciation exams of courses for approval or for grade improvement demand a previous registration at the Student’s Registrar, with no administrative fees.
4.2 Re-appreciation exams are always composed of a written examination and, if required, an oral or a practical examination.

5. The student may register for a re-appreciation exam to improve his/her grade in any curricular unit executed in the same cycle of studies.

DON’T FORGET: THERE IS NO SPECIAL EVALUATION SYSTEM OR PAEDAGOGICAL RULES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS. Erasmus/exchange students have to follow the same evaluation rules as regular students, with no exceptions!

All questions regarding the academic calendar, changes to the original study plan, forms and other procedures can be cleared by checking the International Relations Office webpage through UFP’s website.