Special Statuses

• General Information
• Working Student
• Association Leader
• High-level Competitive Athlete
• Parent
• Special Educational Needs
• Military Personnel
• Firefighter
• Religious Practitioner
• FEUP Student-Athlete
• U.Porto Student-Athlete

General Information

In certain situations, as per legislation, students can enjoy special benefits, as long as they provide documentary evidence that they meet the requirements to request a specific status.

The benefits and procedures to request the various special statuses granted by FEUP are detailed below.

Statuses requested during registration or in the following 30 days are valid for the whole year; those valid only for the spring semester must be requested up to 30 days before it begins, unless other deadlines are set in the specific legislation applicable to the status.

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Working Student

Students who work and attend the following programmes may request the working student status: any educational level, including postgraduate, Masters or Doctoral programmes; professional training programmes or youth programmes lasting for at least 6 months (Article 89 of Law no. 7/2009, of 12 February).

The special status granted to working students is applicable to employees. This status is also applicable, with the necessary adaptations, to:

• self-employed students (independent workers or liberal professionals with income classified as category B for tax purposes, sole proprietors and managing partners/single-member companies);
• students who attend professional training programmes or youth programmes (lasting for a minimum of 6 months).

Benefits

Working students:

• do not have to attend a minimum of courses from a programme (applicable to educational levels where this is permissible), are not subject to periods of limitation or to regulations necessitating changes of educational institution;
• are not subject to any legal provisions that tie course assessment to the attendance of a minimum number of classes per course;
• are entitled to make up or educational support classes deemed essential by bodies of the educational institution;
• have access to a special exam period (please see the information about exams).

Keeping the working student status is dependent on the student's academic success in the previous year.

Status Termination

The benefits will be terminated if working students are academically unsuccessful during two consecutive or three alternate years.

If their status has been terminated, they can request the working student status again in the subsequent academic year. Students can only do this twice.

NB: For working students to be academically successful they must progress to the following year or obtain passing grades on at least half of the courses they are enrolled in (Article 94 of Law no. 9/2009, of 12 February).

Status Request Procedure

Statuses requested during registration or in the following 30 days are valid for the whole year; those valid only for the spring semester must be requested up to 30 days before it begins.

Working students who are employees must go to Academic Services to deliver the following documents:

• a declaration from the company they work for, including the following: date of employment, job title, daily or weekly number of working hours, employment bond. This declaration will have to be authenticated with the stamp and signature of the employer;
• a declaration from social security (with updated social security deductions) or a copy of the document the company issues for social security purposes.

Students who are civil servants, government officials or work for other State organizations will have to deliver a declaration authenticated with the embossed seal of their workplace.

Independent workers or liberal professionals (income classified as category B for tax purposes) must go to Academic Services to deliver the following documents:

If they have never requested the status

• a declaration of commencement of activity;
• documentary evidence of their social security registration and of monthly social security deductions (if there are any) or documentary evidence of exemption from these obligations.

If they have been granted the status before

• IRS (personal income tax) return from the previous year and a copy of the latest receipt (corresponding to work done in the previous 3 months);
• documentary evidence of monthly social security deductions or documentary evidence of exemption from this obligation.

Sole proprietors must go to Academic Services to deliver the following documents:

If they have never requested the status

• a declaration of commencement of activity;
• documentary evidence of their social security registration and of monthly social security deductions (if there are any).

If they have been granted the status before

• IRS (personal income tax) return from the previous year;
• documentary evidence of monthly social security deductions.

Students who attend training programmes or temporary youth programmes must go to Academic Services to deliver a declaration from the institution providing the programme stating that the student in question has registered for it and that it will last for a minimum of 6 months.

Research Scholars must go to Academic Services to deliver a copy of the scholarship contract.

Interns must go to Academic Services to deliver a copy of the internship contract. Alternatively, they may deliver an updated, signed and duly authenticated declaration issued by the organization where they are interning that details the duration of the internship and the number of working hours.

Students who are involuntarily unemployed and registered at the employment centre cannot request the working student status.

For further information, please see “Documentary Evidence of Working Student Status – Self-employed Workers, Interns and Scholars”.

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Association Leader

This status can be requested by leaders of youth and student associations and federations, acknowledged under Law no. 23/2006, of 23 June.

Benefits

Association leaders:

• are exempt from attending classes whenever their presence is required at meetings of the bodies they are members of and those meetings conflict with class schedules (1);
• are exempt from attending classes whenever their presence is required at events of clear relevance to associative interests;
• can request an extra exam per course during each academic year, besides those exams occurring during periods already prescribed by the legislation in effect (please see the information about exams);
• can postpone project and written report deadlines, in accordance with the internal regulations in effect at the educational institution;
• can arrange with course professors, or in accordance with the internal regulations in effect, to take written tests on different dates, if they have been unable to take them because of non-deferrable associative activities (2).

(1) To be exempt from class attendance, students must produce documentary evidence that they were at the aforementioned meetings and deliver it to the institutional body which oversees class absences.

(2) Forty-eight hours after they are made aware of the event, association leaders must deliver documentary evidence of its occurrence.

Status Request Procedure

Thirty business days after the inauguration of their term, association leaders must go to Academic Services to deliver a copy of their inauguration minutes.

They also have to request that IPJ (Portuguese Institute for Youth) send a declaration establishing their Youth Association Leader Status to FEUP (NB: if this declaration is not received within the aforementioned 30 days, the status will only be granted after it arrives).

The benefits can be enjoyed during the student's term of office as association leader, or one year after the term has ended, as long as this does not exceed the length time the student actually held office. The period during which benefits can be enjoyed starts from the date of the first exam request.

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High-level Competitive Athlete

Benefits

High-level competitive athletes can:

• choose the timetable and type of attendance that are more convenient for their sports training;
• be exempted from class attendance during their training and participation in sports competitions (1);
• reschedule assessment dates, whenever those established conflict with their sports activities. They can also request special assessment periods. This benefit can be enjoyed during periods of preparation for sports competitions. It is the student who must request the rescheduling of assessment dates and periods (1);
• transfer between educational institutions, whenever their sports activities require it (1);
• designate a professor (accompanying professor) to oversee the evolution of their academic performance, detect any difficulties and suggest measures to counteract them;
• have make up classes whenever necessary, to compensate for missed classes.

Academic support measures are subject to students' academic performance and take into account the variables affecting their academic and sports activities.

(1) To enjoy this benefit, the student must go to Academic Services to deliver a declaration issued by IDP (Portugal's Institute for Sports).

Status Request Procedure

At the beginning of the academic year, IDP must inform FEUP about students who are high-level competitive athletes (Article 9 of Decree-Law no. 125/95, of 31 May).

To enjoy some of the aforementioned benefits, signalled with (1), the student must go to Academic Services to deliver the declaration issued by IDP.

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Parent

This status covers parents who are attending Higher Education, in particular women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or are nursing their children.

Pregnant student - student with a gestating child.

Student who has recently given birth - parturient student, including the 98 days following the child's birth.

Student who is nursing - student who is breastfeeding her child.

To be granted any of these statuses, the student must inform FEUP of her situation in writing and produce a medical certificate.

Benefits

Pregnant students can:

• transfer between educational institutions;
• register in educational institutions outside of their area of residence;
• take exams during the special exam period, in accordance with the academic calendar;
• be exempted from class attendance to go to medical appointments, whenever these cannot be scheduled at other times.

Student mothers can:

• be exempted from class attendance for a period of 100 consecutive days, 90 of which following birth. The remaining days can be used, fully or partially, before or after birth;
• in case of abortion, be exempted from class attendance for a period of 30 days, renewable, subject to medical prescription;
• if they have recently given birth or are nursing their child, be exempted from class attendance to go to medical appointments, whenever these cannot be scheduled at other times. Students are also entitled to class attendance exemption during breastfeeding times, as long as they produce a declaration stating that they are breastfeeding;
• if they have adopted children who are 15 years old or younger, be exempted from class attendance for a period of 100 days, to be with the adopted minor;
• be exempted from class attendance for a period of 30 days, to assist their adopted child or stepchild, 10 years old or younger, in case of illness, disablement or accident. If the child is older than 10, the period of exemption will be reduced to 15 days;
• take exams during a special exam period, to be arranged with Academic Services, when childbirth coincides with the exam period;
• transfer between educational institutions;
• register in educational institutions outside of their area of residence.

Student fathers can:

• be exempted from class attendance for a period of 5 business days, consecutive or alternate, in the first month following the birth of their child;
• be exempted from class attendance for a period equal to the one which would be granted to the mother, including the 6 weeks of maternity leave after childbirth. They are also entitled to take exams during a special exam period, in accordance with the academic calendar. The aforementioned benefits can be enjoyed in the following cases: if the mother is physically or psychologically unfit, if the mother is deceased or if the parents jointly decide to do so. To be exempted from class attendance in these cases, the student must submit a request and present the corresponding documentary evidence.

Additionally, student parents whose child is up to 3 years old can:

• be exempted from class attendance, subject to the presentation of documentary evidence, in the following cases: prenatal medical appointments, childbirth, breastfeeding, child illness and childcare;
• postpone the presentation or submission of projects and essays and reschedule tests whenever any of the cases mentioned in the previous item render meeting deadlines or taking tests impossible;
• be exempted from legal provisions that tie course assessment to the attendance of a minimum number of classes per course;
• be exempted from registering for a pre-established minimum number of courses.

Class attendance exemption and access to make up classes and special exam periods are subject to the submission of documentary evidence proving that the student was absent because of scheduling conflicts.

For further information, please see the applicable legislation.

Status Request Procedure

Pregnant students must go to Academic Services to deliver the following documents:

• a medical certificate verifying the pregnancy and including the expected date of childbirth;
• documentary evidence of medical appointments for class attendance exemption purposes.

Parents must go to Academic Services to deliver the following documents:

• a copy of the birth certificate;
• documentary evidence of medical appointments for class attendance exemption purposes.

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Special Educational Needs

Students with NEE (Necessidades Educativas Especiais – Special Educational Needs) are students who experience difficulties in learning and participating within the academic context. The difficulties can arise from the dynamic interaction of contextual factors (physical, social, attitudinal) and/or from hearing, visual, motor and physical limitations, among others. Students must produce documentary evidence of these limitations, provided by experts.

Benefits

Attendance and Educational Support

• Students with NEE are entitled to specialized support and to adjustments to the teaching/learning process so that their needs are met.
• Specific measures for each student with NEE are suggested on a technical report.
• Whenever there are discrepancies between their current programme's demands and the support they are being given, students with NEE can switch to another programme. Changes of programme are subject to the numerus clausus for students with NEE.

Assessment

• Students with NEE can be assessed in ways and contexts appropriate to their situation. These are suggested on a technical report.

Status Request Procedure

• When they enrol, students with NEE should go to the Orientation and Integration Unit to request the status.
• The request can be submitted at a different time if the student's special needs are identified later on, or if they result from events occurring after the beginning of the academic year.
• The aforementioned request must be accompanied by the individual educational programme students benefited from previously (whenever possible) and by technical reports issued by experts (medical doctors, psychologists, speech therapists or other relevant professionals). Students should also state all educational support they have received by other public or private institutions.

The reports mentioned in the previous item should detail the student's disability and its seriousness, as well as its consequences for academic work, namely:

a) for visual disabilities, the report should include an assessment of visual acuity and each eye's visual field, with the best approximation;

b) for hearing disabilities, the report should include an assessment of each ear's hearing capacity, with the best approximation;

c) for motor disabilities, the report should include information about the affected members;

d) for chronic illnesses, the report should include information about their consequences for academic performance.

Whenever necessary, other documents may be requested to complete each student's individual file or to serve as documentary evidence of the persistence of the student's clinical condition, when it is subject to change.

For students with permanent NEE, the aforementioned procedure only needs to be done once. Students with temporary NEE should submit yearly status requests.

For further information, please go to the Orientation and Integration Unit web page.

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Military Personnel

This status is applicable to military personnel working under the contract or voluntary system.

Benefits

Military personnel, whether working under the contract or voluntary system, are subject to the provisions established for working students, except for the cases mentioned in Article 3 of the Regulations for Incentives to Military Service under the Contract and Voluntary Systems, approved by Decree-Law no. 320-A/2000, of 15 December.

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Firefighter

Benefits

Firefighters from fire brigades, whether mixed or voluntary, can:

• be exempted from class attendance, whenever their presence is required, for operational purposes, by the Fire Commissioner;
• arrange with course professors, or in accordance with the internal regulations in effect, to take written tests on different dates, whenever they were unable to take them because of operational activities.

Firefighters from fire brigades, mixed or voluntary, who have served for at least two years can request an extra exam per course during each academic year, besides those exams occurring during periods already prescribed by the legislation in effect.

Status Request Procedure

To be granted these benefits, students must go to Academic Services to deliver a declaration from the fire brigade they are members of.

Statuses requested during registration or in the following 30 days are valid for the whole year; those valid only for the spring semester must be requested up to 30 days before it begins.

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Religious Practitioner

Benefits

Religious practitioners are exempted from class attendance and can take exams on different dates whenever classes or exams conflict with the established days of rest and worship of their religion.

Status Request Procedure

Religious practitioners must go to Academic Services to deliver documentary evidence that they are members of a church or religious community. In the previous year, this church or religious community must have informed the appropriate governmental body of its days of rest and worship for the current year (Article 14 of Law no. 16/2001, of 22 June).

Statuses requested during registration or in the following 30 days are valid for the whole year; those valid only for the spring semester must be requested up to 30 days before it begins.

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FEUP Student-Athlete

Any FEUP student who represents the Faculty at sports events acknowledged by the FEUP Board is granted this status.

Benefits

FEUP student-athletes can:

• be exempted from class attendance whenever their presence is required at Higher Education sports competitions where they will be representing FEUP;
• request to take exams during the special exam period reserved for working students, in accordance with FEUP's General Assessment Regulations, if they will be representing FEUP at the National University Championship finals. Students may request to take exams for a maximum of 3 courses per semester;
• request to be assessed in a class other than their own, because of scheduling conflicts. This is applicable to courses where part of the assessment is done in a classroom setting. This request should be submitted two weeks in advance, if the students know they will fail to appear for assessment on the initially scheduled date because their presence is required at sports competitions. This request will only be approved if the normal course assessment process is not disrupted.

Duration Period

FEUP student-athletes will be granted the aforementioned benefits only during the semester the competition takes place in.

Status Request Procedure

The AEFEUP (Students' Association) Board must send the FEUP Board, and post on its website, an updated list of the students who are covered under this status.

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U.Porto Student-Athlete

This status is granted to any U.Porto student who represents the University at sports events sponsored or recognized by U.Porto's Social Services, through GADUP (Sports Office).

Benefits

UP student-athletes can:

• be exempted from class attendance whenever their presence is required at Higher Education sports competitions where they will be representing U.Porto;
• request to take exams for 4 semestral courses, or equivalent, during the special exam period for programme completion purposes (in September);
• postpone project and written report deadlines, in accordance with the internal regulations in effect, whenever they conflict with Higher Education sports competitions where they will be representing U.Porto;
• arrange with course professors to take written tests on different dates, if they have been unable to take them because of Higher Education sports competitions where they represented U.Porto.

U.Porto student-athletes who have withdrawn from sports because of a long-lasting injury sustained during University sports practice will still be granted the aforementioned benefits during the year of the injury, except for class attendance exemption.

Duration Period

U.Porto student-athletes will be granted the aforementioned benefits only up to and including the fall semester of the following academic year.

Status Request Procedure

University of Porto's Social Services, through GADUP, must post on the U.Porto website an updated list of the students who are covered under this status.

U.Porto student-athletes will only be able to exercise the rights inherent to this status if they go to Academic Services to deliver documentary evidence of their participation in eligible U.Porto sports activities.

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