UAB adaptation to the European Higher Education Area

2. UAB adaptation tothe European Higher Education Area Office of the Vice-Rector of Students and Culture January 2006

3. Changing conditions in the knowledge society • 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)

4. Problems with the current system • 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.

5. 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.

6. Consequences (2) • Delay in entering employment • Lack of student mobility

7. 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

8. Goals of the Bologna treaty • Harmonise higher education (but not making it uniform). • Promote student mobility throughout Europe. • Adopt a transparent system in which qualifications across Europe are comparable. • Adopt a common system for calculating credits in Europe. • Increase employability in the European labour market. • Promote the European dimension of higher education and its competitiveness in relation to other systems (US and Asia).

9. Course structure compatible with the rest of Europe (undergraduate 3/4 + postgraduate 2/1) • 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.

11. Principles behind the UAB model • 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.

12. Opportunities at the UAB • 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.

13. EHEA structure 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 • Focus the core modules on the first 180 of the total of 240 credits. • Focus “UAB minors” on the final 60 credits.

14. UAB structure: Postgraduate Undergraduate 180 240 First cycle Second cycle Third cycle 60 60 60 60 120 Doctorate Undergraduate course Master's degree 3 + (1) + 1  4 + 1 3 + (1) + 1 = 3 + 2

15. Structure of UAB undergraduate courses: CREDITS % core modules Core modules UAB modules Free-choice modules TOTAL 180 50% 90 60 30 180 180 75% 135 15 30 180 240 50% 120 60 60 240 240 75% 180 0 60 240 Officially recognised qualification Unofficial UAB qualification. Students joining from other universities. Students leaving the UAB for other universities Recognition of lifelong learning Recognition of lifewide learning 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.

16. Official Postgraduate Programmes (POPs) 60 to 120 credits Initiation to Research Areas of Research AdvancedAcademicTraining Professionalspecialisation * * 2nd cycle Master's degree 3rd cycle Doctorate • First degree • 180 ECTS credits with100% of core modules • Master's degree • 60 POP ECTS credits • ∑ ECTS credits ≧300 * Requirements for masters * Requirements for doctorates

17. Undergraduate Pilot Plan UAB-DURSI (2004-2007) • Health Sciences • Veterinary Medicine • Social Sciences • Political Science and Public Administration • Education Studies • Advertising and Public Relations • Sociology  • Humanities • Geography • Humanities • Translation and Interpreting • Experimental Sciences • Physics • Mathematics • Engineering • Computer Engineering 

18. UAB Undergraduate Pilot Plan New teaching model (2005-2008) • UAB centres • Social Sciences • Teaching, Early Childhood Education • Teaching, Primary Education • Health Sciences • Speech Therapy • 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) 

19. Postgraduate Pilot Plan UAB-DURSI (2005-2007) • 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”