J Alexandre Ribeiro
Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, and Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Lisbon
Email: jaribeiro@fm.ul.pt

Following the approval of the Statutes of the University of Lisbon, in accordance with legislation contained in the RJIES (Juridical Regime of the Higher Education Institutions), all of the units of the University of Lisbon will have to revise or make new statutes in order to conform to the statutes approved. For this reason, the Faculty of Medicine was requested to elect its Statutory Assembly, which is now made up of:

Teachers and Researchers:
Full Members:
Professor João Lobo Antunes
Professor José Manuel Matos Fernandes e Fernandes
Professor Henrique Manuel Bicha Castelo
Professor José Manuel Domingos Pereira Miguel
Professor Maria do Carmo Salazar Velez Roque da Fonseca
Professor Rui Manuel Martins Victorino
Professor José Manuel Morão Cabral Ferro
Dr. Lucindo Palminha do Couto Ormonde

Reserve Panel:
Professor António José Carvalho Gonçalves Ferreira
Professor José Augusto Gamito Melo Cristino
Professor Maria Luísa Caruana Canessa Figueira da Cruz Filipe
Professor José Manuel Braz Nogueira

Non-teaching and Non-research Staff:
Full Member
David João Varela Xavier

Reserve Member
Rui Manuel Vieira da Fonseca

Students:
Full Memberss 
Miguel Pinto da Fonseca Froís Borges
João Eurico Navarro Martins dos Reis
Victor Castro Alves Sá Ferreira

Reserve Panel:
Rui Pedro Lourenço Teixeira
Margarida Silva Ferreira
Cesár Peter Burgi Vieira

By designation of the Chancellor, the Statutory Assembly will be presided over by me.

The major issues to be debated by the Statutory Assembly are:

1) Faculty Mission and Strategic Area to which it belongs.
2) Governance and its Regulation.
3) Structures and/or sub-units.

In the message that the chancellor sent to all the presidents of the statutory assemblies, he states that ‘According to the Statutes of the University of Lisbon the statutory assemblies of the faculties are totally free to elaborate and draw up their own statutes, as long as they conform to the law, to the statutes and to the orientations of the University.’ The Chancellor drew up a proposal, in accordance with clause 4 of Article 54 of the Statutes of the University of Lisbon, limited to the formal and juridical questions, stressing at each moment the deeper aspects upon which easy statutory assembly should deliberate, as mentioned below. The idea would be to help towards a certain formal harmonisation of the Statutes, without leading to an undesirable uniformisation.
The Chancellor considers, however, that adoption of this proposal by the statutory assembly is totally free.
Finally, taking into account the legal time frames, it is important for the statutory works to be completed during the month of January, in order to move on to the elections for the new governing bodies of the faculties in January 2009.’

The main aspects that should be contemplated in the debates are:

I- The Preamble containing three main points:
– Reference to the history of the Faculty.
– Reference to the mission of the Faculty.
– Reference to the integration of the Faculty in the respective strategic area and in the University of Lisbon.

II- Structure Internal organisation is one of the central points of the statutes of the faculties.
It is important to point out that the Strategic Programme aims at reinforcing the structures of research and the coordination of the courses, even though this issue is not in the statutes of the UL.

III- Governing
Article 11
Organs
1. The governing organs of the Faculty are:
a) The Faculty Assembly;
b) The Dean;
c) The Scientific Council;
d) The Pedagogical Council;
e) The Management Council.
2. The organs of the organic sub-units are:
a) [to be considered according to the internal organisation of each faculty];
3. By a decision by the Assembly of the Faculty, consultant organs may be set up.

IV- Assembly of the Faculty
Article 16
Function
The Assembly of the Faculty is the governing body with deliberative and supervising functions, representing the teachers and researchers, students and non-teaching and non-research staff of the Faculty.

Article 17
Composition
1. The Assembly of the Faculty is made up of fifteen members [fifteen is the maximum number], distributed thus:
a) XX* teachers and researchers [perhaps it is useful to foresee that two thirds, or more, should be PhDs];
b) XX*students;
c) XX* members of the non-teaching and non-research staff [this presence is optional];
d) XX* external members [this presence is optional].

* to be established by the Statutory Assembly 
2. The members referred to in paragraph a) of clause nº 1 are elected by the teachers and researchers.

3. The members referred to in paragraph b) of clause nº 1 are elected by the students of all the teaching cycles.

4. The members referred to in paragraph c) of clause nº 1 are elected by the non-teaching and non-research staff.

5. The members referred to in paragraph d) of clause nº 1 are co-opted in the first meeting of the members elected at the Assembly, in a joint list that must obtain the absolute majority of the votes, with their mandate being a duration identical to that of the members elected.

Juridical Regime of the Higher Education Institutions | Article 97
The schools and organic research units referred to in the previous article have the structure of organs that is fixed by the statutes of the institution, having observed the following minimum requirements:
a) There must exist a uninominal organ, of an executive nature, as a Dean or president of the unit;
b) When there is a representative collegiate organ:
i) It must not exceed 15 members;
ii) It must be made up of at least 60 % of teachers and researchers;
iii) It must include representatives of the students;
iv) It may include representatives of the non-teaching and non-research staff, as well as external entities;
v) It elects the Dean.

V- Article 22
Function The Dean is the highest organ of the governing of the Faculty, and its external representative.

Article 23
Election
1. The Dean is elected by the Assembly of the Faculty, in the terms of the Electoral Regulation annexed to the present statutes.

2. The election procedure necessarily includes:
a) Public announcement of the opening of candidatures;
b) The presentation of candidatures;
c) Presentation and discussion of its programme of action;
d) The final voting by the Assembly of the Faculty, by secret ballot.

3. Any professor or researcher in the Faculty may be elected Dean [alternatively, it may be acceptable for candidates to be professors or researchers from another organic unit of the University of Lisbon or from other Portuguese or foreign institutions of university teaching or research].

4. The Dean may not be someone who is retired or has incurred other ineligibilities foreseen in law.

Article 28
Support for the Office of the Dean
1. The Dean is supported by XX Associate Deans [two, three or four to be designated by the Statutory Assembly], chosen among the teaching and research PhDs, freely nominated and exonerated by him.
2. The Dean is supported in his action by an Assistant, by him freely nominated and exonerated, on whom he exclusively depends, with the functions of supporting the direction, particularly in relation to links with the other organic units, the internationalisation programme and public communication of the activity carried out by the faculty.

I conclude calling upon all colleagues to participate in drawing up the statutes through sending suggestions and/or proposals in order to be forwarded for discussion at the Statutory Assembly.