Author and Affiliation: Professor Mário Alexandre Teles de Figueiredo, IST/DEEC(KAUST)

Bio: Mário Figueiredo holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, where he is a Distinguished Full Professor and the holder of the Feedzai Chair in Machine Learning. He is a Coordinating Area Researcher at the Institute of Telecommunications. He has received several honors, including being named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), a Fellow of the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), and a Fellow of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). He is also a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and the Portuguese Academy of Engineering.

Title: Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee for the Evaluation of Educational Efficiency (CAEF)
Abstract: This presentation will address the main conclusions and recommendations from the report of the Committee for the Evaluation of Educational Efficiency (CAEF) concerning the 1st Cycle at IST. The core diagnosis highlights a decline in students’ academic experience, due to several factors: excessive workload, a misaligned academic calendar (with the quarter-based structure identified as a critical issue), a significant number of curricular units with low success rates, and inadequate assessment methods. These issues are impacting students’ progression and hindering talent retention into second-cycle programs. In response, the report proposes, among other measures, a thorough reconsideration of the academic calendar, with a suggestion to return to a semester-based model, the implementation of a system to identify and address problematic courses, and, crucially, a cultural paradigm shift in teaching that fosters curiosity and critical thinking. The ultimate goal is to enhance the quality of education and the overall student experience at IST.