Dear Students,
As promised, today I'm updating you on the exams for the first semester of 2020-21.
This school year's calendar includes a week of exams for the Appeal Season, the week that begins on February 1st.
With the new confinement rules, it is no longer possible to take these exams in person. The recommendations of the Minister of Higher Education, reinforced by the Order of the Rector of the University of Lisbon, only allow the adaptation of the face-to-face exam regime to a distance assessment format if the reliability of the process is guaranteed.
It is our intention to maintain the appeal period that has been announced for all the curricular units for which we - the teachers responsible, the president of the Pedagogical Council and the Presidency of ISEG - consider it reliable to hold exams remotely, with a connected camera and complemented with oral exams.. Certainly for many UCs this will be possible in this appeal season, but not for others. We'll try to make this appeal period as comprehensive as possible, but we can't compromise the reliability of the system. For those courses that we are unable to assess in February, we will set aside a specific period for this purpose (with a week's study break and a week of exams), after the start of the second semester.
Now, as you can imagine, this process is not immediate.
Between yesterday and today, I met with the Rector and the rectoral team of the University of Lisbon, the Vice-Presidents of ISEG, the Administrator of ISEG and the heads of all our services, the President of the Scientific Council, the President of the Pedagogical Council, the Presidents of the Departments of Social Sciences, Economics, Management and Mathematics, the coordinators of all the bachelor's and master's degrees. The Pedagogical Council also met this morning and invited me to take part, as did the President of the Students' Association. I felt it was essential to listen to everyone, to make everyone responsible and involved, especially the student representatives.
What I can assure you today is this:
(1) All students on the ERASMUS program who attended the 1st semester and have UCs to complete in the Appeal Period will be able to do so in the exam timetable planned at the start of this semester.
2. All students who have been prevented from taking exams in the Regular Season for COVID-19 reasons (according to the list confirmed by the Academic Services) and have UCs to complete in the Appeal Season, will be able to do so in the exam timetable planned at the beginning of this semester.
3. All students who are graduating in the current semester and have UCs to complete in the Examination Period will be able to do so in the examination timetable for this semester.
4. All students in doctoral programs will be assessed remotely, in the examination schedule planned at the outset for the current semester.
As far as taking exams in the Appeal Period for most students is concerned, we are - as I said above - analyzing the conditions of each curricular unit.
The rest of the clarifications will be sent out on Tuesday evening. In other words, for the time being, we remain hopeful that we will be able to "save" a reasonable number of Appeal Period exams by the beginning of February. For those where the reliability of a remote solution is questionable, we will have a later appeal period, the date of which will also be communicated on Tuesday. We will then also provide information on the Special Examination Period that was scheduled for March.
I appreciate everyone's understanding of the need to be serious about this whole process. And that we need a few days to listen to you and everyone else involved.
I thank you for staying calm, healthy, studious and motivated. These last 11 months have been a huge test of your ability to adapt and your resilience. Keeping a positive attitude and being busy with something worthwhile is the best way to face life. Better days will come.
Please be aware that it would be much easier for me and the teachers to simply postpone all the exams. But we feel a responsibility to try to respond - within the limits of academic rigor and taking into account the current context of enormous unpredictability - to the desire of many students to have their assessment carried out as soon as possible.
I wish you a good weekend, with the usual coolness of ISEG students. We have to be patient and, above all, good citizens.
Clara Raposo
Chair
ISEG's Department of Mathematics,
