Submitting Documents at the UC

The Academic Management Services are responsible for ensuring that each student's personal file (PI) contains all the documents required by law, so that he/she can access the course for which he/she is registering at the UC, and the documents that prove his/her identity, which are particularly important due to the increasing number of procedures, namely application and enrolment, that are carried out via Internet by uploading digitised documents.

A student's personal file may include paper and electronic documents.

1. Why do we ask Students for documents ?

Article no. 9 in the RAUC mentions that:

• "2 - The enrolment is carried out at InforEstudante, within the deadlines established for that purpose, and is completed with the documents and information that are necessary to complete the student's personal file.
• 3 - The documents to which the previous number refers are submitted at Infor Estudante, and they must correspond to authentic or authenticated documents...."

The aforementioned articles refer to that the person who submits the information and documents at InforEstudante is responsible for them and the documents may be uploaded in an electronic format provided that "their authenticity is unequivocal, they are presented in a non-editable format, and they present a qualified electronic signature, added by the competent authorities that issued them".

On that account, in order to continue the procedure, the Student just need to attach digital or digitised documents at InforEstudante. However, in the overwhelming majority of the documents their authenticity is not unequivocal and/or they do not have an electronic signature. Therefore, the Student's individual file cannot be complete.

This is why we ask Students for documents in accordance with no. 4 of the same article no. 9, which refers to that "The aforementioned documents may be requested by the SGA so that they can be verified in-person, ..." within an established deadline.

2. Which documents are mandatory for enrolment in the UC?

Presentation of the Identification Document

• The presentation of the original Identification Document in-person is mandatory so that the student’s personal information file concerning that document may be created (by means of an ID Card Reader) or the data may be validated by the Academic Management Services.
• If you were Readmitted to the UC, you only have to present this document if its expiry date has been exceeded.

Presentation of the Vaccination record comprising the tetanus vaccine updated. The Academic Management Services (SGA) only need to confirm and insert the date of the vaccination into the students file.

Other documents requested during the application procedure, such as Certificates of qualifications, syllabi and workloads of curricular units.

If you still have questions regarding which documents you have to submit, please check your application at InforEstudante. It is mandatory to submit the original documents (and their copies) or authenticated copies of all the documents whose "Type of submission” is electronic. 

Document attesting the meeting of the pre-requisites in some cycles of studies and Residence Permit or Visa and its copy, if you are a foreign citizen

This information does not apply to students admitted by means of the National Contest of Access and Admission who enrol in-person at the University.

NOTES on PERSONAL PHOTOS at the UC:

• The Personal Photo is entered into InforEstudante by the student (or it is taken during the enrolment if students were admitted by means of the National Contest for Access and Admission (CNA) and validated in the services of the Faculty.
• The Photo is used to issue the Student Card which identifies the students and provides them with the resources of the UC.

3. Are these documents necessary for short-term training and e-learning?

In the Distance Learning Courses of the University of Coimbra and Short-term Non-Degree Courses, with especial characteristics such as the fact that they may be delivered outside the spaces of the UC, only the presentation of the original documents is mandatory:

If the course implies that the student must hold a previous qualification:

• presenting the original diploma or its authenticated copy is mandatory, along with the identification document.

If the course does not require a previous qualification, such as Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD Degree, or other pre-defined situation:

• presenting the digitised copies of the original documents is sufficient, along with the sworn statement concerning the veracity of documents and data delivered to the UC-  Im1265 - Declaração de honra dados documentos geral, obtained at InforEstudante (menu Academic Service >> “Policies and Procedures”);

The aforementioned sworn statement must be filed in and:

• if you choose to deliver it at the UC, you must print and sign it;
• if you choose to submit it only in an electronic format, you may sign it with your qualified electronic signature or print the declaration, sign and digitise it before sending it.  

All the Portuguese citizens may have and use a qualified electronic signature in a simple and safe way, by means of their Citizen Card. For further information please access the official website of the qualified electronic signature and safe authentication of the Portuguese State »

This sworn statement and the aforementioned documents must be delivered to the Academic Management Services (SGA) according to the conditions defined in question 4 below, or, alternatively, collected by the Organisational Unit where the course is delivered and then forwarded to the SGA, after validation, by means of internal mail.

Only in the Distance Learning Courses the information about vaccines is not necessary. In the courses that imply the presence of the students in the UC facilities the vaccination concerning the tetanus vaccine must be proved (indicate the date on which you were vaccinated or send a digitised copy of the record with that information)

4. How to submit and authenticate the documents?

The documents must reach the Academic Management Services by one of the following means:

Delivered in-person at the Academic Management Services during the opening hours of the in-person assistance (check the In-Person Assistance Schedule »» You must bring the original documents and their copies so that their authenticity may be verified. The original documents will always be returned to you.

Sent by Regular mail
Concerning the Citizen Card, the student may send the printed version of the PDF file resulting from the software of the Citizen Card, or alternatively, a copy of the Card itself.

The Citizen Card enables its electronic reading by means of an electronic equipment named “ID Card Reader” which along with a specific software enables citizens to take advantage of the features of their Card (further information at www.cartaodecidadao.pt»).

The documents must be original or authenticated. In accordance with Decree-Law no. 28/2000 of 13th March, certification of photocopies attesting their conformity with the original documents may be done by the following entities

Parish Councils (Juntas de Freguesia);
Post Offices (CTT – Correios de Portugal, S.A. - Sociedade Aberta);
Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
Lawyers and Solicitors.

The address to send the required documents by regular mail is the following:

Universidade de Coimbra - Administração 
Serviço de Gestão Académica
Edifício da FMUC - R/C dto.
3004-504 COIMBRA
PORTUGAL

NOTE: In the case of documents issued by Institutions from countries that are not members of the European Union, whether the students submit the documents in-person or by other means, the authentication of these documents should be carried out by the Portuguese embassy or consulate in the student's home-country or by Hague Apostille Convention; and, if they are not written in Portuguese, Spanish, French or English, they must be translated into Portuguese by a recognised translator.

5. How to legalise foreign public documents?

6. What is the Apostille Convention?

The affixing of the apostille is provided for in article 3 of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, concluded in the Hague on 5th October 1961, and is only applicable to public documents that need to be presented in any signatory country of the Convention.

The Apostille is issued by the competent authority of the country where the document comes from.

In Portugal, the affixing of Apostilles is done by the Portuguese Prosecutor General's Office. A fee of €10.20 is charged for the issuance of an apostille and for the verification of an existing one, pursuant to article 1 of the Decree-Law no. 86/2009 of 3rd April.

7. Until when can you submit the enrolment documents ?

You must submit your enrolment documents as soon as possible since the Academic Management Services verify if there is any document missing in the student's file. If this happens, the status of the student's file at Inforestud@nte is “INCOMPLETE”.

You can check your status at the field “Indiv. Proc. Status” at the link General »» Curricular Data.

If your status is INCOMPLETE (in red), no official documents can be issued on your request (certificate of completion, other certificates, declarations) as long as this status remains.

A student can submit the documents at any time, thereby updating his/her status from “Incomplete” to “Complete”, which will immediately enable the issuance of documents.

8. What are the deadlines to submit documents by means of a request?

Concerning the majority of the UC requests, the students make them online at InforEstudante. Therefore, they submit the documents in an electronic or digitised format and declare that they are integral copies of the original documents and correspond to true information.

The situations in which additional information or the presentation of the original documents is necessary, the Academic Management Services inform the student by means of InforEstudante.

In these situations, the student or requester must submit the documents that are part of his/her request or that are required by the Academic Management Services for that purpose until the defined deadline.

The non-compliance with the deadline may lead to the refusal of the student’s request and/or the impossibility of accomplishing the request itself.