UAB adaptation toUAB adaptation tothe European Higher Education Area the European Higher Education Area

Office of the Vice-Rector of Students and Culture

January 2006

• Exponential rise in the fields of study.

• Access to information has diversified, and has become cheaper and easier to obtain.

• Initial training is not sufficient for modern employment, which is changing constantly.

• Increase in the need for lifelong learning.

• Demand for academic study to be more relevant to employment.

• Increase in the number of students working during their studies.

• More skilled workers being employed in Europe (Maastricht)

Changing conditions in the knowledge society

• Initial specialisation (1992).

• Exhaustive training focussed on knowledge.

• Delay in the student acquiring his or her first higher education qualification.

• Courses that lack continuity.

• Delay in entering employment.

• Lack of student mobility.

Problems with the current system

Consequences (1) • Initial specialisation (1992).

Difficult to change studies.

• Exhaustive training focussed on knowledge. Increase in the number of “basic” modules.

• Delay in the student acquiring his or her first higher education qualification. Monosequential (“tunnel”) courses. Drop-out with no recognition for work achieved.

• Courses that lack continuity. Diplomas (Nursing, Speech Therapy, Physiotherapy, etc.).

Effort required for a course based on number of hours of lectures (10 hours of lectures = 1 credit for the student).

An unspoken agreement between lecturer and student.

Consequences (2)

• Delay in entering employment

• Lack of student mobility

Framework:

• Bologna Declaration (1999)• Prague Declaration (2001)• Berlin Declaration (2003)• Royal Decrees governing undergraduate and

postgraduate courses (21/01/2005) • Bergen Declaration (2005)• Catalogue of undergraduate courses (?)• Course assessment and certification criteria (?)• General guidelines for individual courses (?)• Drafting new syllabuses (2007-2010)• Official programmes for master's degrees (September

2006)

more general

more specific

Goals of the Bologna treaty

1. Harmonise higher education (but not making it uniform).

2. Promote student mobility throughout Europe.

3. Adopt a transparent system in which qualifications across Europe are comparable.

4. Adopt a common system for calculating credits in Europe.

5. Increase employability in the European labour market.

6. Promote the European dimension of higher education and its competitiveness in relation to other systems (US and Asia).

Avoid an excessive number of years of study required for a first university qualification.

Facilitate the incorporation of graduates into the labour market.

Build solid foundations in the undergraduate phase, providing access to various postgraduate specialisation courses (advanced academic training / professionalisation / introduction to research).

Avoid over-specialisation during the undergraduate phase that limits the future of students.

Make it easy for students to move into other university systems.

Enable students to join and leave the higher education system throughout their lives.

Course structure compatible with the rest of Europe (undergraduate 3/4 +

postgraduate 2/1)

Levels UNDERGRADUATECycles 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle

Qualifications Undergraduate degree, w ith no specif ic name yet. Master's degree Doctorate

Objectives

Specialised and pluridisciplinary training, providing academic or professional training or initiation to research.

Advanced training in research techniques.

ECTS credits Betw een 180 and 240 credits. Betw een 60 and 120 creditsCourses, seminars or other activities providing research training. Production and presentation of a thesis.

Fees Public rates Public rates Public rates

General directives

Establish the number of credits, core modules (betw een 50% and 75% of the total number of credits, brief description of the subjects the number of credits assigned.

Only w hen the qualif ication provides accreditation for a professional activity in w hich this is a requirement.

Structure and organisation

The university assigns a certain number of credits for each subject and training activity. Specialisation is allow ed. A syllabus can be specially designed for a student, w ith a minimum of 60 credits to be taken.

The university must establish areas of research and list the lecturers and researchers that w ill direct theses.

Approval

Authorised by the Autonomous Community and validated by the University Coordination Council (UCC).

Access

Special requirements w hen the qualif ication provides accreditation for a professional activity in w hich this is a requirement.

60 postgraduate credits or master's degree or 300 undergraduate or postgraduate credits

Assessment

Not mentioned in the Decree. The Universities Act (LOU) states that there must be assessment by the Spanish National Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation based on compliance w ith the General Directives and the course implementation plan.

POSTGRADUATE

Each year, the Ministry of Education and Science approves the implementation of new programmes before a favourable report from the Autonomous Community and the CCU.

Once the course is implemented, assessmentis made by ANECA and the authorities of theautonomous communities.

Undergraduate degree or equivalent. In exceptional circumstances, students w ho have passed 180 ECTS credits and all core modules for an undergraduate degree.

NEW TEACHING STRUCTURE FOR OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

Draw n up and organised according to thesystem of the university.

Draw n up by the universities. Objectives, know ledge, skills to be acquired, course content and course credits must be must be established for each subject. The academic structure and the calendar must be specif ied. There are no specialisations.

Basic and general training and other training focussed on preparation for professional employment.

Specialisation of the student's professionalacademic training or research training.

A structure that integrates us completely into the EHEA.

Modular conception of studies.

A structure that harmonises undergraduate studies.

Flexibility in curriculum configuration.

Undergraduate and postgraduate courses as a public service.

A structure of Official Postgraduate Programmes (POPs) leading to official master and doctorate qualifications.

Principles behind the UAB model

A campus university.

Surrounded by a circle of UAB research centres (Esfera UAB).

Quality education and alert to the new employment realities of students.

Unique undergraduate and postgraduate courses,

... promoting geographical mobility and internationalisation,...

... as well as internal vertical and transversal mobility.

Opportunities at the UAB

Focus the core modules on the first 180 of the total of 240 credits.

Focus “UAB minors” on the final 60 credits.

60 60 60

60 60 60 60 60

60 60

EHEA structure

UAB structure:

Undergraduate Postgraduate

Undergraduate course Master's degree

Second cycle

Doctorate

Third cycle

180 240

1206060 6060

First cycle

3 + (1) + 1 4 + 1

3 + (1) + 1 = 3 + 2

24060018075%240

240606012050%240

180301513575%180

18030609050%180

TOTALFree-choice

modulesUAB

modules

Core modules

% core module

sCREDITS

Unofficial UAB qualification. Students joining from other universities.

Students leaving the UAB for other universitiesRecognition of lifelong learningRecognition of lifewide learning

Officially recognised qualification

Students leaving the UAB for other universities (→ undergraduate or master) Recognition of lifelong learning: CFGS, internship.Recognition of lifewide learning: in minors, first year of postgraduate study, training that is not necessarily academic.

Structure of UAB undergraduate courses:

AdvancedAcademicTraining

Initiationto Research

Professionalspecialisation

First degree180 ECTS credits with100% of core modules

Master's degree60 POP ECTS credits∑ ECTS credits ≧300

Official Postgraduate Programmes (POPs)

2nd cycle

Master's degree

3rd cycle

Doctorate

**

* *

60 to 120 credits

Requirements for masters Requirements for doctorates

Areasof

Research

Humanities

• Geography• Humanities• Translation and Interpreting Experimental Sciences

• Physics• Mathematics  Engineering

• Computer Engineering  

Health Sciences

• Veterinary Medicine  

Social Sciences

• Political Science and Public Administration• Education Studies• Advertising and Public Relations• Sociology 

Undergraduate Pilot PlanUAB-DURSI(2004-2007)

UAB centres

Social Sciences

• Teaching, Early Childhood Education• Teaching, Primary Education

Health Sciences

• Speech Therapy

UAB Undergraduate Pilot Plan New teaching model

(2005-2008)

Affiliated centres

Health Sciences

• Nursing (Gimbernat School of Nursing)  

Social Sciences

• Tourism (School of Tourism and Hotel Management)

Engineering

• Management Computing (Tomàs Cerdà School of Computer Science) 

Humanities

• European Master’s in Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Health Sciences

• Master’s degree in Health, Welfare and the Community• Postgraduate course in Social Psychology  Social Sciences

• European professional specialisation master in “Intermediterranean mediation: Economic Investment and Cross-cultural Integration” 

Postgraduate Pilot PlanUAB-DURSI(2005-2007)