09 - Portugal - Organisation of the academic year
The Decree-Law No. 42/05, 22nd of February, when instituting the system of credit units, underlined
the fundamental importance of the role that the student is called upon to play within the scope of the
formative paradigm of higher education, imprinting new characteristics upon the organisation of the
academic year.
The recently initiated offer of training after the publication of Decree-Law No. 74/06, 24th of March,
which approved the legal basis of higher education degrees and diplomas, is organised according to
the principle of flexibility, through the adoption of programmes offering alternative training paths.
The new study cycles leading to first degrees or mestrado degrees are predominantly organised into
semesters, each one of which being a group of curriculum units.
Each one of these units corresponds to a certain number of curriculum credits (ECTS), which is
calculated according to the principle of necessary work, on a full-time basis, that a student should put
in to achieve the objectives and competencies of that unit.
As such, the academic year of two semesters is done full-time, between 36 to 40 weeks; it lasts
between 1500 and 1680 hours, the work done by the student on the course corresponding to 60 credit
units (ECTS).
Within the autonomy that higher education institutions enjoy they can therefore plan over the calendar
year the start, the development and end of their educational activities and research, without this
meaning closing for holidays on weekdays.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
EN 
CS
DE
ES
FR
HU
IT
PL
PT
РУ
SK
TR
УК
AR
中文
