Instituto Superior Técnico

 

Students Survey

1. To whom and to which UC is the survey made available?

The survey is available to students who are enrolled in at least one curricular unit (UC) in the respective year/ semester. Each UC will have a survey to complete, which the student can opt to complete or not.

Exceptions:

• Students enrolling for a grade improvement will not have a survey available to answer, since students in this situation should have had the opportunity to fill in the survey when they enrolled/ passed the respective UC;
• The Dissertation UC survey is carried out separately, between January and March of the calendar year of 20XX+1, of the academic year of 20XX/20XX+1;
• The PhD survey is available at two stages of the doctoral program: after at least 2 years of enrollment in the course and after the presentation and discussion of the thesis, at the time of homologation.

 

2. Is the survey anonymous?

Although the survey is accessed after the student has logged in to their Fénix area, anonymity is guaranteed as there is no relationship between the answer and the respondent. The answers are processed and used for statistical purposes. The results are only presented if the representativeness requirements are met (i.e. minimum number of responses), as regulated, in order to preserve the anonymity of the students.

 

3. What do I need to do to fill in the Initial Board?

The Initial Board is made up of the list of UC in which the student is enrolled and the respective number of weekly contact hours (classes). The fields to be filled in by the student refer to the following:

1. Percentage of classes attended during the semester per UC;
2. Percentage of the number of hours of autonomous work (NHAW) per week per UC, based on the average number of NHAW per week during the academic period;
3. Number of days of study during the exam season per course unit.

 

4. Is the survey mandatory?

No. After filling in the Initial Board, which requires information for estimating the ECTS, the student can choose whether or not to respond to the survey, justifying the reason why they do not wish to respond if that is the case. However, completing the survey is essential for monitoring the functioning of each UC and for the continuous improvement of the teaching, learning and student assessment process and student involvement.

 

5. How is the survey structured?

The survey is divided into two parts.

The first part consists of 4 groups with questions related to:

• Monitoring of the UC throughout the semester and respective workload;
• Organization of the UC;
• Assessment method for the UC;
• Contribution of the UC to the acquisition and/or development of competences.

The second part of the survey is optional and refers to the teaching staff of the UC, by type of class. The teaching staff survey covers 4 groups of questions related to:

• Student assiduity (answer is mandatory);
• Face to face learning sessions benefit;
• Teaching ability of the teaching staff;
• Interaction with students.

 

6. What formula is used to estimate ECTS?

ECTS _student = ( ( %C * NHC + %E * NHAW ) * 14 + NSD * 8 ) / 28

• NHAW = Average no. of hours dedicated to the course per week, i.e. autonomous work (information entered by the student);
• %C = Percentage of classes attended (information entered by the student);
• %E = Percentage allocation of NHAW regarding the UC (information entered by the student);
• NHC = No. of contact hours per week regarding the UC (information entered by the student);
• NSD = No. of days of study in the exam period for the UC (information entered by the student).

It is assumed that:

• 1 semester has 14 weeks of classes;
• 1 day of study during the exam period corresponds to 8 hours of work;
• 1 ECTS credit corresponds to 28 hours of work in a semester.

 

7. What is “autonomous work”?

Autonomous work is considered as the time dedicated by the student to research, study, individual and collective work, etc.

 

8. What processes follow the application of the surveys?

Once the surveys have been applied, the answers are processed and the results are then made available on Fénix for the respective course/ year Delegates. They will then be able to make the necessary and/or relevant analysis and comments according to the results of each pair UC – Course and each trio UC – Teaching Staff – Type of Class. After this process, the Delegates’ results and reports will be made visible to the course Professors and Regents so that they can also make any comments they deem necessary or relevant in each case. The Course Coordination then analyzes this set of results and reports, making the final revision. Only after the end of these processes are the results made available.

 

9. Are the results of the UC and teaching staff surveys made public?

Yes. However, these results are only made available to the IST’s Academic Community (Students, Professors/Researchers and Staff), through the access to the UC page or via Fénix’s personal area (for Students/ Teaching Staff), if there are at least 10 valid questionnaires submitted, representing at least 30% of the number of registrants.

 

Filling out the Survey

1. Is it possible to edit the Initial Board after submitting it?

Once the Initial Board has been filled in and submitted, it is no longer possible to edit it or to make any changes. Therefore, before submitting the information on the course workload, it is important to check that the information has been entered as closely as possible to reality, since the ECTS estimate is used to compare the planned ECTS for the course, leading to one of three scenarios: workload according to plan, above plan or below plan.

 

2. When is it the deadline for filling in the surveys?

The deadline for completing the surveys will be by the end of the period of enrollment for the following semester.

 

3. How do I make sure that all my surveys have been completed so that I can register for the next semester without any issues?

To make sure that the surveys have been completed, simply click on the “Student” tab in Fénix and then on the left-hand side on “QUC – Surveys”. If all the surveys have been completed, the following message will appear: “All your surveys are filled out. Many thanks for cooperating”.

 

Dissertations Survey (2^nd Cycle)

1. To whom is the survey addressed?

The survey is addressed to all students enrolled in Dissertation, regardless of their situation. In other words, the survey is sent to all students, whether they have registered without having started work at the time, are currently developing work or have already completed their dissertation.

 

2. When is the survey available for filling out?

The survey is applied between January and March of the calendar year following the academic year in which the student enrolled in the dissertation (for example, if the student enrolled in 2017/18, they can take the survey from January 2019).

 

3. Where and how can I fill out the survey?

The survey is available via LimeSurvey. Therefore, students who have enrolled in Dissertation will be contacted by email with an invitation to participate via a provided link. Anonymity is guaranteed.

 

4. Is the survey mandatory?

The survey is not mandatory, but all the students who have enrolled in Dissertation, regardless of whether or not they have completed it, must fill it in. This tool is important for getting to know the reality and profile of final-year students and is crucial for improving the teaching-learning process in the context of the final examination.

 

5. How can I consult the survey results?

The survey has been running since 2012/2013. We suggest consulting the overall results by academic year and by course by clicking here.

 

PhD Survey (3^rd Cycle)

1. What surveys exist and to whom are they addressed?

There are two surveys applied to the PhD students. They are applied at two different stages, which are considered crucial in the students’ journey through the doctoral program in which they are enrolled:

• Intermediate Survey: questionnaire applied to doctoral students when they register for their 3^rd year of the doctoral program, after the thesis proposal has been discussed and/or submitted;
• Finalists Survey: questionnaire applied to doctoral students in the final phase of their doctoral program, after the final thesis documentation has been submitted.

 

2. When are the surveys made available?

• Intermediate Survey: applied after the two registration/ enrollment periods, which typically take place in February and September;
• Finalists’ Survey: applied during the process of homologation of the thesis while the student is “awaiting homologation of the thesis”.

3. Where and how can I fill out the surveys?

Both surveys are hosted on LimeSurvey. In both cases, an invitation is sent by email to students eligible to take the survey.

• Intermediate Survey: An invitation is sent by email to students eligible to complete this questionnaire, on behalf of the Pedagogical Council and the Scientific Council;
• Finalists Survey: An invitation is sent by email to finalists by the Postgraduate Area when the thesis approval process is underway.

 

4. Are the surveys mandatory?

• Intermediate Survey: the questionnaire is sent out in the form of an invitation, allowing students to decide whether or not they want to answer the full questionnaire. If they indicate that they do not wish to respond, they must justify why they are not participating in this process;
• Finalist Survey: answering the questionnaire is mandatory, as it is part of the documentation required to be submitted to the Postgraduate Area in the thesis homologation process.

 

5. How can I consult the results of the survey(s)?

The surveys have been running since 2019. For this reason, there are still few results. However, the existing results can be consulted in the menu on the right, under “PhD Survey”, then selecting the desired survey. The summary results are available in PDF format in Portuguese and English for each year.