A Case Study of a Horrendously Disorganized University

Portugal has been an amazingly beautiful country. It has everything one can ask for: islands, beaches, architecture, sunny weather, etc. However, there is one drawback in all of this: I still have to go to school. It is called study abroad for a reason. I have focused intensively on the “abroad” part of the phrase, but this post will focus solely on the “study” part of the phrase. I will attempt to paint a picture of a university that, in the kindest terms, is so Portuguese in its essence, that school so far has been more disorganized than I’ve ever experienced. It’s been a somewhat frustrating journey so far.

Rules and Regulations

Some of the most interesting (as well as frustrating) aspects of ISCTE, my home university, are the school policies revolving around class attendance. The less troublesome one is the personal attendance policy. An attendance of 80% must be maintained to pass the class. But, it can vary from professor to professor. My Macroeconomics professor is fine with us missing one-third of the classes per year. My Microeconomics II professor, on the other hand, would prefer we be there for every class. That is all fine and dandy. I am paying to go to school, and I best use my tuition dollars by showing up to class (even if the classes are tedious). However, what is frustrating is how the university chooses to treat professor absences. If a professor has to miss a class? Guess what? That class is going to be rescheduled for another time. There is no guarantee that the class will be at a time you can event attend. In general, when it comes to the professors, there are little to no guarantees. There is not guarantee that the professor will show up. My Macroeconomics professor showed up 10 minutes late for the first class, and then had to run around for another 15 minutes to get a key so we could actually start the class. And that’s normal; that class always starts 15 minutes late. Last week I was supposed to have my first Master’s level class, entitled “Europe as a Global Actor.” Not a single e-mail was sent informing that the class was actually cancelled. I wasted 2 hours at the university because of this. It feels very much like that we, as students, are responsible for the sins of our professors; but maybe we are just babied back home. Whose to say? One last point of frustration: rescheduling classes. My Microeconomics II professor is the associate dean of the business school at ISCTE. Part of his job requires that he travel abroad to conferences. Of course, these conferences are very long, and happen during the school week. He is missing a grand total of 8 classes. All 8 of those classes have to be rescheduled. There will be weeks where I don’t have that class at all, but that will be offset by having weeks where I have 7.5 hours of it, including 3 hours in a row on Wednesday. I question why the university has an associate dean teaching a beginner’s level class; it results in so much chaos. Thus, the rules and regulations of ISCTE seem to me an antithesis to what they should do; they cause chaos instead.

A Taste of Europe

The ISCTE experience has not been all bad. Yes, the way the school is run is horrendously disorganized. But, it is all made up for by the unique assortment of individuals that surround me everyday. ISCTE has about 10,000 students shoved into its three building campus. Yet, after you meet someone, it is almost impossible not to run into them again (sometimes literally, as the hallways can get packed like a tin of Portuguese sardines). But, it is where the people are from that is so interesting. I have met people from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia (including Siberia!!), Lithuania, Zimbabwe. The list could go on. There are so many people from all over the world gathered on this one tiny campus. If you don’t learn something new about a country while you’re here, you’re doing it wrong. I have learned not only a wealth of information about other countries, but I have learned a lot about how other countries view my own. I will never sniff at gaining new perspectives. They build you up as a person, even if the perspective is negative. Despite being in Portugal, I haven’t really interacted with Portuguese students yet. That seems odd to me, as they are a huge majority of students at ISCTE (there are only about 450 international students). Yet, it seems that many of the Portuguese students stay away from the international students, as they already had their cliques created before we even knew we wanted to study at ISCTE. That is one thing I want to change: I want to get to know some Portuguese students. Observing them from afar can only do so much; my only taste of Portuguese opinions on life have been through my professors, and Carlos and Diana, the two API employees taking care of us. I’m gearing to change that.

A Different Experience

People tend to have happy places they can go to relax and be stress free. In Lisbon, that place is NOVA. As an educational institution, it is much better than ISCTE (at least so far). I only have one class there (Beginner’s Portuguese Language), but the amount of organization is above and beyond anything ISCTE will ever achieve (I mean, I have to cut ISCTE some slack; having Portuguese family, I should have expected at least some level of disorganization). My class always starts on time. The professor always uses the class time wisely (and by that, I mean she doesn’t go on rambling rants like some of my economics professors do). She explains everything in detail, and even goes into more depth when necessary. She listens to us as students. It reminds me much more of an American-style university setting. Now, I can’t just degrade the Portuguese style of teaching class. It has its perks. But, as I said, it is nice to have that happy place where one can feel at home, and not have to stress about professor’s skipping class, or rescheduling everything at a moment’s notice. The only downside? I’m by far the youngest in the room. I believe there is a Polish student who is 21. But, at 19, I am in a class with people who are mostly 5-10 years older than me, with some already in their thirties and forties. I am not sure what their stories are, but I am intrigued, and curious to dig deeper. I am thankful for NOVA as the eye of the storm within ISCTE, the rampaging hurricane surrounding it.

That’s all folks. My university life is interesting enough. The classes can be boring at times, but they tend to fly by. I just don’t appreciate having 21 hours of class a week, with 12 of them spent in economic classes. ISCTE really could do better at picking professors to teach who will actually be present a majority of the semester. But, enough of my complaining. All in all, I will survive. I am dropping one class to ease my burden, but it was an elective anyway. I’m still trying to enjoy my time here, while studying hard. Anyhow, if you’re new, subscribe if you want e-mail updates about when I post! Upcoming posts include the Portuguese national football match I will attend, where I will see Ronaldo. More post topics TBD. I hope you all enjoyed this blog, and are enjoying life back home!  Until next time,

Jeremy Caldeira