FAQ´s

ORGANIZATION OF UNIVERSITY DEGREES

1- How will university degrees be structured?
The university studies required to earn an accredited degree that will be valid throughout the country will comprise Undergraduate and Graduate studies and will be structured in three cycles. The first cycle leads to Bachelor’s Degrees, whose titles are stipulated by the government. Graduate studies include the second and third cycles, for the degrees of Master and Doctor. Passing each cycle will result in the awarding of the corresponding diploma.

2.- What differences are there from the previous structure?
The new structure is conceptually different from the previous one. The new cycles are not equivalent to the previous ones. They have been named in compliance with the terminology used in reports from the European Ministers. The fundamental difference is that each cycle always leads to the awarding of an accredited degree. In all cases, passing the first cycle grants access to the second, and passing the second grants access to the third.

3.- What is a Bachelor’s Degree?
It is the first cycle of university studies. It comprises basic teachings and general training together with other courses oriented toward professional activities. The degree obtained should be relevant in the national and European job markets.

4.- What is a Graduate Degree?
It is the second level of university curricula and comprises two cycles: The second cycle, which focuses on an advanced, multi-disciplinary or specialized education, resulting in the awarding of a Master’s Degree. The objective of the third cycle is that the student receives advanced training in research techniques, resulting in the awarding of a Doctor’s Degree (PhD).

5.- What differences are there between access and admission to the different levels of study?
Access, according to the Lisbon Convention, is the right to apply for admission to a certain university to pursue specific studies. Admission is the effective acceptance of a student to a given program of study at a given university. Each university may establish its own requirements for admission to its various graduate degree programs (number of openings, required prior training, etc.).

6.- What are the requirements for accessing the different cycles for students who have fulfilled studies abroad?
In all cases, the student is required to have fulfilled those requirements equivalent to the respective Spanish requirements in their home country. Master’s or Doctor’s degrees will be fully valid in Spain; however this does not imply the recognition or professional qualification of previous degrees.

7.- Must all degree programs be adapted?
More than a simple adaptation, the university is undergoing a significant structural change. The academic objectives and educational model that result from the new decrees and other related decrees, basically that of European credits, demand significant changes to the current degree programs. There is no simple mathematical equivalence between current credits and the European credit system. The experience gained from some of the current degree programs, after a rigorous analysis of their outcomes, may be used as a basis for drafting new degree proposals, which then must be adapted to the new regulations. The current degree catalogue must be entirely renewed by October of 2010.

8.- Must all officially recognized degrees be registered in the RUCT (Registry of Universities, Higher Education Institutions and Degrees)?
Yes, the Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD Degrees must be registered. After authorization from the Autonomous Community and verification of the curriculum by the Governing Council of Universities, the Ministry of Education and Science will present the Government with the proposal for the official establishment of the degree and its registration in the RUCT, whose approval by the Council of Ministers will be published in the Spanish Official Government Bulletin.

9.- What are the “branches” of the officially recognized university Bachelor’s degrees?
Universities may complete the naming of Bachelor’s degrees by including “branches” alluding to the course or course details of its curriculum. This information will appear in the European Diploma Supplement.

10.- What is a module?
A module is the new structural unit of the curricula, taking the place of and extending on the course unit used up until now. A module is a basic unit of education, formally structured in a series of courses and/or subjects, geared towards academic outcomes and assessment procedures.

11.- What does degree recognition involve?
This means that the university admitting a student will accept the credits they have obtained in officially recognized study programs from the same or a different university, for recognition in other programs in order to earn an officially recognized degree.

12.- What is credit transfer?
Credit transfer implies that, the official academic documents accrediting studies carried out by each student will include the total credits obtained in all previous officially recognized studies.  These include credits obtained in the same or a different university, which have not led to the awarding of an officially recognized degree. This information will appear in the European Diploma Supplement.

13.- To what extent will there be differences among the curricula in other universities that lead to the awarding of the same officially recognized Bachelor’s degree?
The academic content not pertaining to the core of the branch of learning within the degree will be determined by each university. This non-core content may include, not only courses and subjects, but also the university will be able to grant credit for internships in companies or institutions, academically-oriented projects integrated into the curriculum, and recognition of academic activities carried out within the framework of university or inter-university programs, both nationally and internationally.

14.- When will the new official Bachelor’s Degree curricula come into effect?
They will gradually come into effect as of October 2008, in accordance with the deadlines set below: The renovation process of the current officially recognized university degree catalogue will begin in 2008 and must be completed by October 1, 2010. Students who have started their studies under the previous system before the date of implementation may complete their studies and obtain the corresponding degree with all of its academic and professional provisions.

15.- Can there be overlapping modules and/or courses for various officially recognized degrees under the organization of university degrees?
Not only is this allowed, but it is recommended that universities, in organizing their programs, establish common modules, courses, and subjects in those curricula with similar subject matter. This will facilitate their recognition in the case that students wish to change their major or take on additional studies in related disciplines.

16.- What should students who have started their degree studies under the previous regulations do?
These students may continue with the same curriculum since the degree program curricula will be eliminated academic year by academic year. The degrees earned will have all of the academic and professional competences currently established for each one of them.
Once each academic year of a program has been eliminated, universities shall guarantee procedures that make it possible for students from the previous system to succeed in the following academic years under the new structure.
Moreover, when the university drafts a proposal for a new curriculum, it must include the necessary measures for credit recognition for students who were studying under previous curricula.

17.- What will happen to our current graduates?
The officially recognized university degrees earned in accordance with previous curricula prior to the implementation of Royal Decree 1393/2007 will maintain all corresponding academic and professional provisions.
Those who, holding an officially recognized degree of Bachelor, Architect or Engineer, wish to access academic programs for a Bachelor’s degree will obtain the proper credit recognition.
Likewise, all university graduates may access officially recognized Master’s Degree programs without having to fulfill any additional requirements. In the same way, graduates to whom this section refers may directly access the research period of the Doctor’s Degree if holding a Diploma in Advanced Studies, earned in accordance with Royal Decree 778/1998 dated 30 April, or if having attained the title of researcher proficiency stipulated in Royal Decree 185/1985 dated 23 January.

18.- What requirements must a student fulfill to apply to a Master’s Degree program?
The student must hold a new Spanish Bachelor’s Degree, or a university degree earned through the previous system, or its equivalent in a foreign country.

19.- Does any Bachelor’s degree grant access to any Master’s degree? Does any Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree grant access to any PhD?
Yes, but this does not imply automatic admission. Final acceptance will be determined by the university, in accordance with the criteria it establishes.

20.- What difference is there between an (officially recognized) University Master’s Degree and a private Master’s Degree (like those that have existed up until now and are still in effect)?  Officially recognized University Master’s Degrees require prior approval outside of the university (Governing Council of Universities) to be set in motion, while private degrees do not. Therefore, the University Master’s Degrees are accredited and formally recognized in Spain.

ECTS CREDITS

1.- What difference is there between an ECTS credit and the current credit system?
The current credit system (known as LRU credits, as they were established according to the University Reform Act [Ley de Reforma Universitaria] dated 1983) is equivalent to 10 academic credits, while one ECTS credit equals 25 hours of student coursework. They are two totally different paradigms, since one measures a student’s coursework done physically in the university (in classrooms or in a laboratory) and the other measures the student’s overall effort, both in the university classroom and outside, including projects, appointments, presentations, studying for exams, etc.

OTHER EHEA CONCEPTS

1.- What is student-centered learning?
Student-centered learning consists of placing the student at the center of the learning process. In this context, the student takes an active and participatory role in his or her own university education, while becoming aware that the time spent at university is just another stage of a life-long learning process.
This shift requires university teaching to be re-structured so as to incorporate greater student participation. Moreover, the professor must dedicate part of his or her time to following-up or accompanying students throughout their learning process.
This concept of learning requires a comprehensive perspective: Coordinating courses, academic follow-up, creating e-learning spaces, multi-cultural educational opportunities, diversifying of educational actions, and supplying self-teaching materials are strategies that must be granted significant importance when designing new degrees.

2.- What are general competences?
They are skills needed in work as well as in life. All university graduates, regardless of their major, should have developed these skills to their optimal point.
For some years now, UEM’s educational model has established the following cross-disciplinary competences: Responsibility, Self-Confidence, Awareness of Ethical Values, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Flexibility, Teamwork, Initiative, Planning, and Innovation and Creativity.

3.- What are specific competences?
They are specialized or degree-related skills that grant identity, social, and professional coherence to a student’s educational profile. Such as: Applying basic systems engineering concepts to industrial production; understanding the components of strategic marketing; diagnosing bone pathology, or evaluating the labor capital needs of organizations.

4.- What are active learning methods?
They are those that adapt to a teaching and learning model in which the primary role belongs to the student, who builds knowledge from patterns, activities, and scenarios designed by the professor.

The repertoire of active methodologies is broad because it takes on both dynamics and activities whose objective it is to make lecture classes more “active”.  Some of the more complex methodologies include:

  • The Case-Study Method,
  • Problem-Based Learning,
  • Cooperative Learning
  • and, in general, methods that bolster the student’s self-learning.

5.- What are the key ideas behind lifelong learning?

  • Universities become the first phase of a learning process that will last a person’s entire life.
  • By the end of their university education, graduates should have developed the abilities that will allow them to continue preparing and updating themselves in a context of permanent learning.
  • In addition, the idea that not every single piece of knowledge needed to carry out a specific profession needs to be taught at university.