We have come to the end of another academic year, the students have almost gone and the office staff and teachers are mostly recharging their batteries for yet another year to come.

Taking stock of this, I might say that for the office staff this year was the year of assessment and training. What I mean by this is that we have finally managed to go further into the application of the Integrated System of Assessment of the Performance of the Civil Service (SIADAP), and at the same time there has been considerable investment in staff training, both academically and in professional terms.

In relation to assessment, this year was the one in which we overcame the difficulty of being exposed to assessment of our performance. The process was obviously painful (as could be expected) but for the first time it allowed us to speak and transmit our hopes and draw conclusions about the process that had been established.

In relation to academic training, the Faculty continued to invest in its support staff who decided to continue their studies, come what may, being prepared to accept discomfort in exchange for learning.

I would particularly like to congratulate Francisca, Filipa, Manuela, Virgínia, Bento and also Matilde, from the Chancellery of the University of Lisbon, who participated in the Recognition, Validation, and Certification of Competences project (RVCC), for the effort they made, and mainly for their fantastic final results. My congratulations!

In the field of professional training this has been a very important year. Many members of our support staff became involved in training, both in the field of general training in relation to much of the recent legislation, and in relation to specific training (the academic are and financial area, among others).

Only a qualified group could provide a response to another major challenge that we had last year: the challenge of the new legal framework for the higher education institutions.

Within this context, the auxiliary and support staff have actively participated in the drawing up of both the University Statutes and those of the Faculty of Medicine in particular. Despite being limited by the law, one might say that the results are creating a positive expectation in relation to what is coming.

For the coming academic year we expect to keep up this training effort. There are new challenges on the horizon, as the Faculty, along with the Association for Research and Development in the Faculty of Medicine (AIDFM), the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) and the Pharmacy Faculty and Dental Medicine Faculty, has received support from the Human Potential Operational Programme (POPH) for a professional training project that will be developed fully in the first quarter of 2009.

In relation to this assessment, we will try to correct slackness, establish aims for our services as a whole and reduce the long periods of evaluation that are always troublesome and lead to some ill-will. It is often forgotten that the main aim of this process is to improve performance as a result of assessment.

But what worries me for the coming academic year is the financial situation, which is increasingly beginning to block the development of the Faculty and does not suggest anything good in the future.

The likelihood is that for the first time our own income will be greater than that granted by the Portuguese state through the budget transfer agreement, which means we will have to knuckle down in order to significantly increase our own income, as these are the ones that will be the total support for the working of the FMUL.

We are on the lookout for good ideas..............

David Xavier
Coordinating Secretary of the FMUL