GUIDELINES ON THE OPERATION OF THE 2020/2021 ACADEMIC YEAR

NOTICE

GUIDELINES ON THE OPERATION OF THE 2020/2021 ACADEMIC YEAR

     PT

Following the recommendations to Scientific and Higher Education Institutions for the preparation of the 2020/2021 academic year issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), the Directorate General for Higher Education (DGES) and the Directorate General for Health (DGS), which include several measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, ISMAI has adopted the following guiding principles for the 2020/2021 academic year:

• The academic year will begin on September 21, 2020; 
• During the first two weeks of the first semester, all course classes will be exclusively synchronous, following a distance-learning model (EAD);  
• The classes will be taught on the CAMPUS, in-person and online, with digital technology resources to ensure teaching, and following the security conditions established by the Directorate-General of Health (DGS).

Whenever necessary, classes will be divided into different rotating shifts (one part of the class attends the classroom session while the other attends the class online - outside the Campus). The division of students into the different shifts will be generated automatically.

 
To ensure compliance with the above requirements, classes will function as follows

• 2-hour weekly classes teaching activities in-person, with synchronous online session (delivered in rotating shifts depending on classroom capacity);
• 3-hour weeklyclasses - 2 hours of teaching activities in-person, with synchronous online session (delivered in rotating shifts according to classroom capacity) and 1 hour online following the distance-learning model (EAD);
• 4-hour weekly classes - 2 hours of teaching activities in-person with synchronous session (given in rotating shifts depending on classroom capacity) and 2 hours of online work following the distance-learning model;
• Practical sports classes - in person with sports activities, with possible rotating shifts. These classes do not include the practical classes that take place in the following spaces:
  
• Estúdio.01(GIN); 
  
• D.Estúdio.02(FIT); 
• D.Estúdio.03(AR).
  
   
  
• All classroom sessions and online sessions are duly marked in the students' timetables and can/should be consulted regularly;
  
• Classrooms are equipped with a videoconferencing system to monitor students' attendance in the distance learning model (EAD);
• Migration of students between classes and/or shifts is not allowed.
• Classrooms should not exceed the number of students foreseen in the respective shift, even if there are vacant seats in the classroom. However, the shift of the distance learning (EAD) model may have more students than initially established;
• Student attendance in the classroom and in distance learning (EAD) model should be monitored in order to evaluate attendance in the Curricular Unit;
  Classroom capacity has been reassessed to ensure compliance with the social distance standards required by DGS, DGES and MCTES. Only the seats marked for this purpose should be taken;
  Specific measures have been established and visibly posted in specific locations regarding the functioning of support units (bar, restaurant, library, administrative services, academic services, sports spaces, etc...). 
• These measures must be scrupulously respected.
  

 
It is necessary to comply with the general recommendations, including:

• The mandatory use of a mask, in all areas of the CAMPUS, (inside and outside the buildings);
• Regular hand washing/disinfection must be carried out;
• Avoiding contact with other people within a 2 meter distance;
• Avoiding unnecessary social contacts;
• All members of the Academic community should conduct daily self-screening of signs and symptoms, and abstain from going to the institution if symptoms associated to COVID-19 appear. In these cases, the SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) or other lines created for this purpose should be contacted, according to the norms and guidelines of the DGS.
  
   
  
  

In view of the indications received by the MCTES, the use of the STAYAWAY COVID app by the academic community is encouraged as a voluntary, non-discriminatory and totally decentralized tool aimed at avoiding and monitoring the potential risk of contagion.

Each member of the academic community is invited to be a public health agent in the prevention and control of transmission of COVID-19 and therefore, compliance with the recommendations issued by the management bodies and other regulatory authorities is requested.