RAC – Course Self-Assessment Report
Atualizado/Updated: 2022-06-06
1. RAC Structure
Index
1. Course identification
2. Teaching staff
2.1. Teaching team of the cycle of studies
2.1.1. Compulsory curricular units
2.1.2. Optional curricular units
2.2. Appreciation of the Curricular Unit – Teachers’ perspective
2.2.1. Opinion of teachers on the functioning of curricular units of the study cycle (by curricular year)
3. Students
3.1. Characterization of students by sex
3.2. Characterization of students by age
3.3. Characterization of students by region of provenance
3.4. Number of students per curricular year
3.5. Search for the cycle of studies by potential students
3.6. Appreciation of the Curricular Unit – Students’ perspective
3.6.1. Students’ opinion on the functioning of the curricular units of the study cycle (per curricular year)
3.7. Students view about the course
4. Results
4.1. Academic results
4.1.1. Learning objectives (where applicable)
4.1.2. Success rate of the curricular units of the study cycle 4.1.3. Formative efficiency of the study cycle – transition of curricular year
4.1.4. Formative efficiency of the study cycle – completion of the study cycle
4.1.5. Employability
4.2. Internationalization level
4.3. Other results
5. Follow UP: Degree of implementation of the proposals for improvement actions presented in the previous school year
6. Analysis of strengths and improving in the cycle of studies
7. Concrete measures to be implemented in the following year
8. General comments
9. Annexes
9.1. Appreciation of the Curricular Unit – Teachers’ perspective
9.1.1. Opinion of teachers on the functioning of curricular units of the study cycle (per curricular unit)
9.1.2. Follow UP: Degree of implementation of the proposals for improvement actions presented in the previous edition of the curricular units
9.1.3. Analysis of strengths and improvement in curricular units
9.1.4. Concrete measures to be implemented in the next edition of the curricular units
9.2. Appreciation of the Curricular Unit – Students’ Perspective
9.2.1. Students’ opinion on the functioning of the curricular units of the study cycle (per curricular unit)
1. RAC State Flow

1. RAC States
Draft: in this state can be filled out and marked as filled in the information used for the processing of the RAC on the demand, employability and appreciation of the course and the UC.
Filled in: After the course search and employability fields are filled in and marked as filled in, the rac status is automatically changed to “Filled In”. In this state, the quality cabinet can already block changes to the RAC.
Blocked: in this state, the required fill fields can no longer be changed (fields of demand, employability and appreciation of the course and THE). This state will allow the files .pdf with the final version of RAC to be inserted into the system by the quality cabinet.
Pending: After inserting the files .pdf with the final version of RAC, the RAC state is automatically changed to “Pending”. In this state, the final version of RAC can be published by the quality cabinet.
Published: In this state, in the RAC preview feature, the files inserted .pdf into the system are available for consultation of the final version of RAC.
3.1 Draft
The “Draft” state is the initial state of the RAC. In this state you can enter the following information:
- The search for the course by potential students, whose completion is made by the services.
- The employability of the course, the completion of which is carried out by the services.
- The assessment of the course, the completion of which is carried out by the course director.
- The appreciation of the curricular units of the course , whose completion is made by the coordinator of the curricular unit.
After completing the information indicated, it must be marked as completed in the “Marked/not marked as filled” field of the “State of completion of the information” box. This procedure will allow the quality cabinet to systematically obtain the state of completion of the information.
After marking the information as filled, it is no longer possible to change it. However, until it is blocked by the quality cabinet, you can uncheck and change it.
The RAC status will be automatically updated to the “Filled” state, when the “search” and “employability” status of the course are marked as completed.
3.2. Filled
After the “search” and “employability” of the course are marked “as filled“, the RAC status will be automatically updated to the “Filled“ state.
In this state, changes to the information may be blocked by the quality cabinet with a view to making the final version of rac available.
When changes are blocked, the RAC state is automatically changed to the next “Blocked“ state.
3.3. Blocked
After changes to the information are blocked by the quality cabinet, the RAC status will be automatically updated to the “Blocked“ state.
In this state, you will not be able to change the following information:
- the search for the course by potential students;
- the employability of the course;
- the assessment of the course;
- the appreciation of the curricular units of the course.
The “Locked” state will allow the two files (.pdf) to be inserted into Phoenix with the final version of RAC. A file should contain point 9. attachments and the other file should not contain paragraph 9. annexes.
For the creation of the two files (.pdf) with the final rac version of each course, the following procedures must be performed:
- The RAC should be processed, with and without attachments, using the “View RAC” feature.
- Each of the previous processing must be stored in a file (.pdf) using the browser’s own print/btão command.
- Each of the previous two files must be uploaded to Phoenix using the “View RAC” feature in the file list (file with or without point 9. annexes).
After the two files (.pdf) are inserted into Phoenix, the state of the RAC will automatically change to the next “Pending“ state.
Where changes need to be made to the course’s demand, course employability, course assessment or UC assessment after rac is in the blocked state, the following procedures should be used:
- There should be no files (.pdf) inserted in Phoenix so, if any, they should be deleted.
- The state of the RAC must be unlocked by the quality cabinet.
- Changes can then be made.
- Upon completion of the changes, the rac state should be again blocked by the quality cabinet.
If the changes are unlocked, the RAC state automatically reverts to the previous state from “Locked” to “Filled” and is automatically updated again to “Locked” when the changes are again blocked.
3.4. Pending
When the two files (. pdf), with the final version of RAC, if inserted in Phoenix, the RAC status will be automatically updated to the “Pending“ state.
In this state, the final version of rac can be published by the quality cabinet.
As long as the RAC is in the “Pending” state, the two files (. pdf) can be deleted and others can be inserted in their place.
If the files are deleted, the RAC state automatically reverts to the previous “Locked“ state. Once the files are reinserted, the RAC status is automatically updated to “Pending“.
The RAC state will automatically change to “Published” when the quality cabinet publishes the final version of the RAC.
3.5. Published
The “Published“ state is the final state of the RAC.
The RAC state will automatically change to “Published” as soon as the quality cabinet publishes the final version of the RAC.
After the RAC is published, the “View RAC” feature will no longer process the RAC data currently in the system and will automatically make the two files available (. pdf) in order to download the final version of rac.
The quality cabinet will continue with the possibility of processing the RAC with the data currently existing in the system.
4. Features in the “Quality” portal
In the “Quality” portal, in the left side menu in the “RAC – Course Self-Assessment Report” section, there are the following RAC information management features:
4.1 Manage RAC
This feature allows you to consult and manage the following information per school year:
- See the list of course directors.
- See the state of the RAC.
- Change the state of the RAC in the “RAC State” tab.
- Manage course search data by potential students in their tab.
- In the case of courses with vacancies through the CNAE (National Competition for Access to Higher Education), the data are entered by the services.
- In the remaining courses the data is obtained automatically through the existing data in the system.
- Manage course employability data in its tab.
- Consult the assessment of the course inserted by the course director in the respective tab.
- In the “Rac Status” tab, the following sections are found:
- “Information completion state” indicating whether or not the information is marked as completed.
- “Change blocking status management” where you can lock/unblock the information fill.
- “File management” that allows you to manage both files (. pdf) with the final version of rac.
- “Rac publishing status management” that allows you to publish/unpublish the RAC.
4.2 Export RAC Information to Excel
This feature allows you to create an Excel file with the following RAC information for a given school year and course type:
- Data on the identification of courses.
- The demand data for the courses.
- The data of the employability of the courses.
- The list of coordinators and the appreciation of the courses.
4.3 View Course Review
This feature allows you to consult the assessment of the course introduced by the director:
- Other results (optional completion);
- Degree of achievement (mandatory completion): the degree of implementation is indicated for each proposal for an improvement action submitted in the SWOT carried out in the previous academic year and can be indicated, for example, the following information:
- Terminated
- Implemented (to be maintained)
- Implemented (to be developed)
- Not realised
- Strengths and weaknesses (optional filling);
- Improvement actions to be implemented (optional completion):
- in each improvement action should be completed the fields Aspect to be improved, Proposal for improvement , Priority and Implementation Indicator;
- Several proposals for improvement actions can be created.
- Only proposals for improvement actions whose degree of implementation does not exist may be amended or eliminated.
- General comments (optional completion).
4.4 View UC’s Assessment
This feature allows you to consult the information on the assessment of the curricular units introduced by the coordinators:
- Satisfaction (numeric fields of mandatory completion): numbers between 0 and 5 can be entered;
- Degree of achievement (mandatory completion text field): the degree of implementation is indicated for each proposal for an improvement action submitted in the SWOT carried out in the previous academic year and the following information may be indicated, for example:
- Terminated
- Implemented (to be maintained)
- Implemented (to be developed)
- Not realised
- Strengths and weaknesses (two fields of optional filling text): Identification of strengths and aspects to be improved in the functioning of some of the following aspects, taking into account the opinion and contributions of teachers and other relevant stakeholders (e.g. employers):
- pedagogical innovation;
- objectives of the study cycle;
- internal organisation and quality assurance mechanisms;
- material resources and partnerships;
- teaching and non-teaching staff;
- students and teaching/learning environments;
- processes;
- findings.
- Improvement actions to implement (optional fill text fields):
- in each improvement action should be completed the fields Aspect to be improved, Proposal for improvement , Priority and Implementation Indicator;
- Several proposals for improvement actions can be created.
- Only proposals for improvement actions whose degree of implementation does not exist may be amended or eliminated.
- Consultation of the students’ assessment (results obtained from the responses to the survey of students).
4.5 View RAC
This feature allows you to get the course self-assessment report (RAC) by school year.
The display is done as follows:
- As long as the RAC is in any of the states, except the published one (this exception does not apply to the quality office), the report obtained from the data currently available in the system will be made available:
- in this view it will be necessary to take into account that the registration/enrolment data of the students used in the RAC is constantly updated so that the RAC viewed at each time may possibly contain some of the information other than that already shown.
- In this procedure it will be possible to:
- View the Portuguese version and the English version of RAC.
- View the RAC with or without the “Annexes (Point 9.) “;
- Print the RAC document, which contains the Portuguese version followed by the English version, through the browser’s print feature.
- This RAC query viewing procedure can be time-consuming so you should wait for its end before repeating the query request.
- When the RAC is in the “Published” state, two files (.pdf) will be made available for download with the final version of RAC (a file with point 9. attachments and another file without that paragraph 9. annexes) thus no longer necessary to process the data of the moment. In this procedure, the waiting time for data processing is no longer available because it is only necessary to download the available file(s).
4.5.1 View the RAC in Portuguese or English without changing the language defined in the Fénix area
To view the RAC information in Portuguese or english without changing the language defined in the Fénix area you must perform the following procedures:
- Perform the procedures to “View the RAC”.
- In the RAC preview page in Portuguese, click the “View in English” link. In the RAC view in English page, click the “View in Portuguese” link.
4.6 State of RAC
This feature allows you to:
- Get the RAC state (filtering by parameters).
- Block actions to change the states of the RAC (indicated below).
4.6.1 Mark RAC as "Filled" in Block
There are two features (buttons) that allow you to mark rac as filled, in block:
- Mark as Filled: This feature (button) checks the courses shown in the table and marks as filled those where demand and employability are not yet marked as populated – the RAC automatically switches from the draft state to the filled state;
- Mark as completed if selected: this feature (button) checks the courses selected in the table (the selection of courses is made in the first column on the left side of the table) and marks as filled those in which the search and employability are not yet marked as filled – the RAC automatically switches to the filled state.
4.6.2 "Block" RAC
There are two features (buttons) that allow you to block RAC:
- Block changes: This feature (button) checks the courses shown in the table and blocks changes in those where search and employability are already marked as populated – RAC automatically switches from the filled state to the locked state;
- Block changes if selected: This feature (button) checks the courses selected in the table (the selection of courses is made in the first column on the left side of the table) – the RAC automatically switches to the locked state. and blocks changes in those where demand and employability are already marked as fulfilled
4.6.3 Unlock the RAC in Block
here are two features that allow you to unlock the RAC in block:
- Unblock changes: This feature (button) checks the courses shown in the table and unlocks changes in those where there are no .pdf files for RAC publishing – the RAC state is automatically reverted from the locked state to the filled state;
- Unblock changes if selected: This feature (button) checks the courses selected in the table (the course selection is made in the first column on the left side of the table) and unlocks the changes in those where there are no .pdf files for RAC publishing – the RAC state is automatically reverted from the locked state to the filled state.
4.6.4 Publish RAC in Block
There are two features that allow you to publish rac in block:
- Publish: This feature (button) checks the courses shown in the table and publishes those that are in the pending state and have both files .pdf for RAC publishing – rac automatically switches from pending to published state.
- Publish if selected: This feature (button) checks the courses selected in the table (the course selection is made in the first column on the left side of the table) and publishes those that are in the pending state and have both files .pdf for publication of the RAC – the RAC automatically moves from the pending state to the published state.
4.6.5 Unpublish the RAC in Block
There are two features that allow you to unpublish the RAC in block:
- Unpublish: This feature (button) checks the courses shown in the table and reverts the published to pending state in courses whose RAC is in the published state – the files . pdf are no longer available in Phoenix except for people who can enter or remove them from the system.
- Unpublish if selected: This feature (button) checks the courses selected in the table (the selection of courses is made in the first column on the left side of the table) and reverts the published to pending state in courses whose RAC is in the published state – the files . pdf are no longer available in Phoenix except for people who can enter or remove them from the system.
5. Features in the “Course Management” portal
There are the following RAC information management features:
- Immediately after clicking on the “Course Direction” portal, in the left side menu, in the “RAC – Course Self-Assessment Report” section, there is the following functionality:
- View RAC: This feature allows you to consult the RAC of one course per school year.
- In the context of a course, that is, after clicking on the name of a course to access the specific area of that course, in the left side menu, in the “RAC – Course Self-Assessment Report” section, there are the following features:
- View RAC: This feature allows you to consult the RAC of the course in context by school year.
- Fill OUT RAC: this feature allows you to insert or consult the course assessment in context by school year.
5.1 View RAC
This fearture allows you to get the course self-assessment report (RAC) by school year.
The display is done as follows:
- As long as the RAC is in any of the states, except the published one (this exception does not apply to the quality office), the report obtained from the data currently available in the system will be made available:
- In this view it will be necessary to take into account that the registration/enrolment data of the students used in the RAC is constantly updated so that the RAC viewed at each time may possibly contain some of the information other than that already shown;
- In this procedure it will be possible to:
- View the Portuguese version and the English version of rac;
- View the RAC with or without the “Annexes (Point 9.) “;
- Print the RAC document, which contains the Portuguese version followed by the English version, through the browser’s print feature.
- This RAC query viewing procedure can be time-consuming so you should wait for its end before repeating the query request;
- When the RAC is in the “Published” state, two files (.pdf) will be made available for download with the final version of RAC (a file with point 9. attachments and another file without that paragraph 9. annexes) thus no longer necessary to process the data of the moment. In this procedure, the waiting time for data processing is no longer available because it is only necessary to download the available file(s).
5.1.1 View the RAC in Portuguese or English without changing the language defined in the Fénix area
To view the RAC information in Portuguese or english without changing the language defined in the Fénix area you must perform the following procedures:
- Perform the procedures for “Viewing the RAC“.
- In the RAC preview page in Portuguese, click the “View in English” link. In the RAC view in English page, click the “View in Portuguese” link.
5.2 Fill RAC
his feature allows the course director to enter the course assessment by school year.
- Other results (optional completion);
- Degree of achievement (mandatory completion): the degree of implementation is indicated for each proposal for an improvement action submitted in the SWOT carried out in the previous academic year and can be indicated, for example, the following information:
- Terminated
- Implemented (to be maintained)
- Implemented (to be developed)
- Not realised
- Strengths and weaknesses (optional filling);
- Improvement actions to be implemented (optional completion):
- in each improvement action should be completed the fields Aspect to be improved, Proposal for improvement , Priority and Implementation Indicator;
- Several proposals for improvement actions can be created.
- Only proposals for improvement actions whose degree of implementation does not exist may be amended or eliminated.
- General comments (optional completion).
6. “School Principal” portal
n the “School Principal” portal, there is the following functionality for viewing the RAC, in the left side menu “RAC – Course Self-Assessment Report”:
6.1 View RAC
This feature allows you to get the course self-assessment report (RAC) by school year.
The display is done as follows:
- As long as the RAC is in any of the states, except the published one (this exception does not apply to the quality office), the report obtained from the data currently available in the system will be made available:
- In this view it will be necessary to take into account that the registration/enrolment data of the students used in the RAC is constantly updated so that the RAC viewed at each time may possibly contain some of the information other than that already shown;
- In this procedure it will be possible to:
- View the Portuguese version and the English version of RAC.
- View the RAC with or without the “Annexes (Point 9.)“
- Print the RAC document, which contains the Portuguese version followed by the English version, through the browser’s print feature.
- This RAC query viewing procedure can be time-consuming so you should wait for its end before repeating the query request;
- When the RAC is in the “Published” state, two files (. pdf) with the final version of rac (a file with point 9. attachments and another file without that paragraph 9. annexes) thus no longer necessary to process the data of the moment. In this procedure, the waiting time for data processing is no longer available because it is only necessary to download the available file(s).
6.1.1 View the RAC in Portuguese or English without changing the language defined in the Fénix area
To view RAC information in Portuguese or english without changing the language defined in the Phoenix area you must perform the following procedures:
- Perform the procedures for “Viewing the RAC“.
- In the RAC preview page in Portuguese, click the “View in English” link. In the RAC view in English page, click the “View in Portuguese” link.