Bachelor in Music Technologies Handbook

Article 1 - Organization

1. The Bacherol in Music Technologies programme's course lasts six semesters.
2. This first cycle confers the Bachelor degree (licenciatura - 180 ECTS)
3. For completion of the course it is required to obtain approval in all curricular units (CUs) indicated in the study plan, and the required minimum of ECTS in Options / Projects.

Article 2 - Registration

1. Applying to ESML Bachelor in Music Technologies is the act by which the student is engaged to ESML, acquiring the status of student and the right to enroll in one of its courses, being valid as long as the student attends the course uninterruptedly.
2. Registration, by itself, does not entitle the attendance of classes, being necessary to enroll in the Curricular Units (CUs) of the respective course.

Article 3 - Enrollment

1. Enrollment is the act that enables the student to attend the various academic activities after having a valid ESML registration.
2. Enrollment is made at the beginning of the school year, and the process for CUs selection may take place during two different academic moments, safeguarding special situations, such as re-entry, transfer and change of course regimes.
3. Finalization of enrollment requires the completion of a proper form and the cumulative verification of the following conditions:

a. regularized fees payment, including absence of debts or the existence of an authorized payment plan;
b. absence of impediment by application of the prescription regime.

4. Enrollment is subject to payment of the enrollment fee and school insurance.
5. The enrollment in this Bachelor course may be carried out on a part-time basis under the terms of Dispatch no. 20754/2009 of 15 September - Regulation of Application and Frequency of Isolated CU and Students in Partial Time Regime of the IPL.

Article 4 - Registration and enrollment procedure

1. Registrations and enrollments preferably take place in an online environment, at an electronic address stipulated for this purpose, except for first year students for the first time, who make them in person at the academic services office.

Article 5 - Operation

1. The school year is divided into two semesters, including vacation periods and specific evaluation moments.
2. Each semester corresponds to 15 weeks of classes and other curricular activities, excluding those destined to evaluation of knowledge by exam.
3. The dates of the beginning and end of the semesters, the vacation periods and the specific moments of evaluation by examination are set by the Director, after having listened to the Pedagogical and Technical-Scientific Councils, and are included in the Calendar of the School Year published at the beginning of the school year.

Article 6 - Study Plan

1. The study plan of ESML Bacherol in Music Technologies indicates obligatory CUs and Options / Projects. The study plan is published on ESML site.

Article 7 - Curricular Units of Option

1. Optional CUs offered by ESML are announced at the beginning of each semester.
2. In addition to those mentioned in point 1 of this article, others may also be considered Optional CUs:

a. Any CU of other ESML Bachelor study plans that is not part of the plan that the student attends and within the limit of available vacancies;
b. CUs that are taught in national or foreign higher education institutions with which ESML has established protocols, and after approval by the course coordinator.

3. The enrollment in an Option CU implies being subject to the absence regime and the evaluation system in force for this CU.
4. Nuclear CUs of any branch / variant cannot be attended as Optional CUs.

Article 8 - Precedence of Curricular units

1. As a rule, students should follow the course study plan, however there are no precedent CUs. The curriculum includes only recommended precedence in order to inform students about the requirements for attending specific CUs where content has a structuring link with previous CUs.
2. ESML is not responsible for the overlapping in the timetable of CUs of different semesters or school years from those established in the curricula that may prevent the simultaneous attendance of that CUs.

Article 9 - Curricular Units Accreditation

1. CUs accreditation follows the procedures described in the accreditation regulations. Requests must be submitted within 10 days after enrollment in said CUs.
2. Requests must be submitted within 10 days after enrollment in mentioned CUs.

Article 10 - Frequency Waivers from Curricular Units

1. CUs where frequency waiver is possible are mentioned on the study plan.
2. These waivers require a test, in the first half of November, in the case of waivers of CUs of the 1st semester, and in the second fortnight of March, in the case of 2nd semester CUs.
3. The classification obtained in the waiver test is considered the final classification of the CU.
4. Requests for waiver of attendance at CUs for the first and second semesters must be submitted until October 31 and March 15, respectively.

Article 11 - Passing to the following academic year

1. The transition of a school year depends on the approval of a minimum of thirty credits.
2. Students will be allowed to enroll in CUs for any semester, even in a different order from that indicated in the study plan, since:

a. the conditions referred to in point 1 are fulfilled;
b. be authorized by the CU teacher and the course coordinator;
c. do not exceed the maximum number of 40 credits per semester.

Article 12 - Changes of enrollment

1. Changes of enrollment can be made up to 10 business days after the start of classes, upon request and payment of the fees due, safeguarding the case of changes motivated by a fact attributable to the institution.

Article 13 - Cancellation of registration / enrollment

1. Students can, at any moment, give up the studies in the cycle in which are registered, requesting the proper annulment of the registration / enrollment.
2. In cases of cancellation of registration / enrollment, the amount of the fee to be paid is indicated in IPL deadlines and procedures regulations.
3. Cancellation of registration / enrollment does not nullify any existing fee debt or other due payments.
4. The cancellation of registration / enrollment does not have any effect on any CUs that have been completed by the student while the school registration was valid.

Article 14 - Re-entry

1. In case of interruption of the course frequency, re-entry into ESML can only occur after 1 year of interruption, counting as the year of interruption, the academic year in which the annulment occurred.

Article 15 - Participation in class activities

1. Student participation is compulsory in all school activities.
2. The number of absences allowed in each CU is 3 (three) absences per semester.
3. Students with Statute of Student Worker or Statute of Associative Leadership are not subject to the absence regime.

Article 16 - Functioning of Curricular Units

1. The CUs with a semester of duration can be taught in different semesters from those indicated in the study plan, by decision of the coordination of the course which are announced before the beginning of the school year.

Article 17 - Credits of Optional/Projects Curricular Units

1. The credits corresponding to the Option / Project CUs can be completed during the 6 semesters of the course.

Article 18 - Assessment Methods

1. In order to determine the final classification of each CU, the following assessments methods are adopted:

a. continuous assessment;
b. continuous assessment plus examination;
c. assessment by examination.

2. All assessments are expressed quantitatively on the numerical scale from 0 to 20 values.
3. A CU is considered complete if the student obtains a final mark equal or superior to 10 values.
4. The assessment method of each CU is defined in the respective CU form.
5. It is the teacher’s responsibility, in agreement with the coordinator, to define the forms of assessment to be used, informing the students about them at the beginning of the semester and making available the corresponding CU form.
6. Changes in the assessment methods after the beginning of the academic semester are not allowed, except in special cases duly validated by means of a proposal presented to the Pedagogical Council and approved by it.

Article 19 - Continuous Assessment

1. The Continuous assssement should be, whenever possible, the main type of assessment. The final classification of the CU is measured by the participation in the classes and other ESML activities. Assessments may include tests, papers, oral presentations, or other assignments defined by the responabile of the respective CU.
2. Although the main method is the continuous assessment, students are allowed to have the alternative option of taking a final exam, as long as the respective CU form does not block that method, for reasons set forth in paragraph 3 of this Article 19. So, may be submitted to alternative examination in the normal period, in continuous assessment CUs, students who:

a. do not complete the continuous assessment, not obtaining therefore the approval;
b. have failed by absences;
c. Having been approved in the continuous assessment, students who want to improve the classification, under the conditions of article 26.

3. In CUs where assessment is dependent on practical work, and therefore the continuous assessment component is essential, the assessment based on alternative examination is not alowed, as indicated in the respective CU form.

Article 20 - Continuous Assessment plus Examination

1. This type of evaluation comprises a continuous assessment component during the academic period, and a component evaluated in the Normal Examination Period. The final classification in the Continuous Assessment plus Examination will be the result of the average from the two evaluations, in the proportion defined in the respective CU form.
2. In the CUs where Continuous Assessment plus Examination is applied, access to the alternative exam-based assessment is forbidden, once the continuous evaluation component is dependent on practical work, essential to the achievement of the objectives of CU.

Article 21 - Examination Assessment

1. The evaluation by examination is expected to take place within the deadlines described in the academic calendar.
2. The contents of the exam of each CU are those described in the respective CUs forms.
3. The final classification is that obtained in the examination of the respective CU, except in cases of improvement of grade, in which the best classification obtained prevails.

Article 22 - Constitution of Examination Juries

1. In the case of practical tests or oral tests, the examination boards shall consist of at least three teachers.
2. In the case of exams consisting of written tests, these tests will be corrected and classified by the teacher of the respective CU.

Article 23 - Exame Period

1. The examinations are carried out in three periods, according to the current school calendar:

a. Normal period;
b. Appeal period;
c. Special period.

Article 24 - Normal Period

1. The access to the normal period of exams is for:

a. Students in CUs under Continuous Assessment plus Examination;
b. Students who choose to be evaluated only by a final examination, provided they have not been present at all moments of continuous assessment, since the CU form does not block it, in the terms oh the paragraph 3 of Article 19.
c. Students wishing to improve grade;
d. Students who are in situations foreseen in the law of access to exam or defined specifically by internal provisions of the ESML.

2. The access to an alternative examination in continuous assessment CUs, as an option by the student, implies previous enrollment, after the last day of classes of each semester and within a period of two (2) business days counted from the publication of the results of the continuous assessment.
3. In the cases of CUs where Continuous Assessment plus Examination, enrollment for normal period examination is not required.

Article 25 - Appeal Period

1. At the appeal period, examinations shall be available to students who, at the exams normal period:

a. have failed to attend;
b. have given up its completion;
c. have not obtained approval;
d. wish to improve the grade.

2. There is also access to the exams at the appeal period to students who have obtained negative classification in the continuous assessment, and therefore did not obtain approval.
3. At the appeal period, students may not enroll in a set of CUs that total more than 30 (thirty) ECTS.
4. The deadline for requesting the examination at the appeal period is two (2) business days from the normal period examination date, in case of no attendance, or the date on which the result of the examination is published, in case of non-approval.

Article 26 - Special Period

1. Access to the special period is available to students:

a. Finalists who have less than 22 (ECTS) and, cumulatively, three or fewer CUs to complete the course;
b. With Student Worker status regardless of the number of CUs that are lacking to complete the course.

2. The special period of the first semester will run until 31 March, and the special period of the second semester will run until 31 October.
3. The deadline for applying for exams in the special period for the 1st semester is February 28 and July 31 for the 2nd semester.
4. If students are cumulatively, Student Worker and Finalist, they may apply to the academic services, within 4 working days of the publication of the classification, the schedule of another exam, within a deadline of 15 business days.
5. The student who has not completed the exam(s) in the special period will have to enroll in the corresponding CUs within two (2) working days from the non-attendance or disapproval result.

Article 27 - Classification Improvement

1. A student who obtains approval at a CU and wishes to improve his / her grading may require a grade improvement examination only once by the end of the following academic year. This deadline will expire immediately from the moment the student requests the certificate of qualifications and / or certificate of course.
2. The repetition of exams to improve the grade should, whenever possible, take place before the same jury that awarded the previous classification.

Article 28 - Course Completion Deadline

1. The deadline for completion of ESML Bachelor in Music Technologies is 5 (five) academic years counted from the year in which the first registration is made, whether or not there is a frequency interruption, except in duly justified cases and approved by the Technical Scientific Council of ESML.
2. If the limits referred to in the preceding paragraph are reached, the attendance of the course shall be considered interrupted, and re-entry shall be subject to what is established in Article 14.
3. Students with Statute of Student Worker or Statute of Associative Leader are not subject to the regime of prescriptions.

Article 29 - Final Classification

1. The Bachelor in Music Technologies final classification is obtained according to the following formula:

Final grade =

N – total number of CUs completed; - the classificação obtained on each CU; - number of credits of each CU.

(Final grade = Sum(classification of each CU x number of credits of each CU) / Total number of credits of completed CUs)

2. The total number of credits of the completed CUs will be equal to or greater than 180, including the minimum number of credits in the Options / Projects CUs, according to the study plan.

Article 30 - Absences

1. Leaders and officials form ESML Student Association (AEESML) enjoy the right to have their absences overlooked if motivated by the attendance at meetings of the Association or events of manifest associative interest.
2. Overlooking of these absences shall be decided by the Director upon submission to the Academic Services of a document proving the appearance in the type of activity referred to in the preceding paragraph.
3. The deadline for submitting the supporting document is three (3) business days after the completion of the mentioned activity.

Article 31 - Exams

1. AEESML leaders and officials may request one examination each month, in addition to the exams in normal and special periods.
2. The right referred to in the preceding paragraph may be exercised uninterruptedly, at the option of the associative leader, during the term of office, and within a period of twelve (12) months after the end of the term, provided that it never exceeds the time period in which effectively exercised the mandate.

Article 32 - Papers Delivery

1. The leaders and officials of AEESML can request the postponement of the submission of papers and reports for dates to be agreed with the teacher of the CU in question.
2. When AEESML leaders and officials have not been able to attend to tests due to the exercise of unavoidable associative activity, they may also request written tests on a date to be agreed with the teachers.

Article 33 - Proof of status as an associative leader

1. The exercise of the rights referred to in this chapter depends on the prior presentation at the Academic Services of the certificate of taking possession of the associative office, within a period of 15 (fifteen) business days after the same has ocurred.
2. Failure to comply with this provision means that special rights for association officials are not applied.

Article 34 - Omitted Cases

1. The cases omitted in this Handbook will be solved, according to their nature, by the Director or by the Technical-Scientific Council of the ESML.

Article 35 - Implementation

1. This Handbook shall enter into force in the second half of the 2018/19 school year.