Next academic year, UVic-UCC will have a new Faculty of Design and Engineering and two new degrees in Barcelona with the incorporation of Elisava

The Universitat de Vic - Universitat  Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC) will kick off academic year 2021-2022 by expanding its range of academic programmes to a total of 37 degrees taught between the Vic and Manresa campuses, the new Barcelona campus, the branch in Granollers and its affiliated centres. The biggest news is the addition of Elisava, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, as part of the University  after the federative agreement signed last November.

Elisava will begin the new academic year as the Faculty of Design and Engineering, thus becoming the UVic-UCC’s Barcelona campus, its third campus overall. Its programmes will join the University’s in September with its two degrees in Design and Innovation and Industrial Design Engineering, and the University Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies in Design and Communication, in addition to a wide range of Master’s and postgraduate programmes and professional training courses.

These programmes join the University Master’s programmes that the UVic-UCC already offered, along with its continuing education and doctoral programmes. This year, 2021, they are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Doctoral School, which also dovetails with the launch of its tenth programme in Sport Sciences and Human Movement.

First hybrid degree in Podiatry in Spain

The other new development for next academic year in terms of undergraduate degree programmes is the addition of the University’s degree in Podiatry, to be offered in hybrid format. This programme will join those offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences of Manresa, which has been training podiatry professionals for 22 years, and it will become the first clinical degree in Health Sciences to be taught in this modality in all of Spain.

One of the unique features of this degree is that a higher number of hours will be spent on practical training compared to the conventional degree offered until now. Thus, the face-to-face part will be set aside and reserved for activities which ensure that the future podiatrists properly acquire professional skills (theoretical-practical sessions, simulations and clinical practices), while the theoretical contents and personal work will be done remotely.

Another highlight for next academic year is the fact that the Occupational Therapy degree, which is offered both face-to-face and online at the Vic campus, will take yet another step towards consolidating the hybrid modality by expanding the number of classes taught totally online. In this way, the students who are beginning this degree programme can better tailor the timetables and classes every semester and year to their own personal availability. “The knowledge acquired will be the same, but students will be able to choose when and how they advance in their education, always within certain limits set by the curriculum”, explains the coordinator, Judit Rusiñol, who also says that “it’s a great way to make it more accessible for people who are working or want to pursue this programme as a second degree”.

Consolidation of active methodologies

The hybrid model that the UVic-UCC was exploring even before the pandemic was implemented more intensely after the lockdown in March of last year. “Ours is a face-to-face university and it will continue to be one. In the past year, we have discovered the value of physical social interaction in learning, but we have also found that digital formulas are resources that enrich teaching, if used properly”, says the rector of the UVic-UCC, Josep Eladi Baños. The rector believes that “there’s no turning back on the road towards hybrid teaching, and it makes more sense than ever”.

In parallel, the 23 degrees that the Vic campus will offer in academic year 2021-2022 consolidate its focus on active methodologies as the foundation of the training offered in recent years. Problem-based learning, project-based work, reflective practice, workshops, simulations and learning and service  are just some of the methodological options underpinning the University’s Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

In this sense, next academic year the Faculty of Business and Communication Studies will reinforce “learning in real contexts, either internationally via projects that incorporate the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) methodology in the University’s classrooms, or by applying simulation methodologies”, explains the dean, Josep Burgaya. One example is the students in the Journalism and Audiovisual Communication degrees, who participate in real journalistic projects by developing the biweekly supplement El 9 Nou and the new digital magazine Insights.

These teaching dynamics join those that are already used in this and the other faculties, such as the Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare on the Vic campus in the degrees in Nursing, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, which are strongly focused on reflective practice, simulation and work based on clinical cases; the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, in the fields of both the biosciences and engineering, which clearly focus on problem-based learning and integrated projects; and the Faculty of Education, Translation and Humanities, which uses university teaching innovation projects in the professional environment like “Eye to Eye” with the support of the Vic City Council and the Department of Education of the Government of Catalonia to promote spaces of dialogue and reflection between the University and the schools around it.

Academic year 2021-2022 will also mark the full implementation of the pedagogical model of the Manresa campus, which was approved last academic year but could not be fully launched because of the limitations associated with the pandemic. The UManresa’s methodological proposal for degrees in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Social Sciences stresses learning based on experiences, collaboration and reflection. It also focuses on the link between theory and practice to connect education with the environment and on individualised student attention.

Reformulated, expanded scholarships

Next academic year, the UVic-UCC will launch the new “Universitat a l’Abast de Tothom” (University within Everyone’s Reach) scholarship programme targeted at students with a sound academic record yet little ability to access or continue their university studies for economic or social reasons. This assistance will provide students with two-thirds of the tuition fees, paid in equal parts by the University and the financing from the scholarship programme, and the education centres where the students complete their baccalaureate or vocational training programme will submit the application.

On the Manresa campus, the Social Talent scholarships created one year ago are being reformulated. Starting next academic year, anyone enrolled in the Business Administration and Management (ADE) or Pre-School Teaching (MEI) bachelor’s degrees programmes at the Faculty of Social Science of Manresa with an entrance exam score of 8.5 of higher can access them, regardless of whether they are coming from a baccalaureate or an upper-level vocational training programme. In all cases, they will be given a 40% discount off the tuition fees in the first year.

With regard to the Vic campus, next academic year a new online system to apply for the available scholarships will be launched; this is a tool on the virtual campus which will simplify the scholarship process for students. The Faculty of Medicine has its own scholarship programme, as does Elisava, which offers four academic excellence scholarships that cover 50% of tuition costs and eight that cover 10%.

Internationalisation in the fifth year of the Medicine degree

Next academic year, the Faculty of Medicine will launch its fifth year, the third in which classes are being taught simultaneously in the teaching units in Vic and Manresa. This year, one of the Faculty’s strategic objectives is to further its internationalisation, and more specifically students’ international mobility. This is beginning with the fifth year students, who will have the option of engaging in mobility for two-month practices at universities abroad. Agreements have already been signed with the University of Liege (Belgium), the University of Varna (Bulgarian) and the University of Rzeszowska (Poland).

The curriculum for the fifth year includes medical specialisations like neurology, traumatology and rheumatology, dermatology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology and geriatrics. Likewise, the teaching team in the Faculty will be expanded and joined by professionals like Xavier Montalban, a neurologist and the head of the Neuroimmunology service at the Hospital Vall d’Hebron and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (CEMCAT); Carles Torrens, a traumatologist and head of the upper extremity unit at the Parc Salut Mar; and Ramon M. Pujol, a dermatologist and head of the Dermatology service, also at the Parc Salut Mar.

Tenth doctoral programme and 16 official Master’s degrees

In academic year 2021-2022, the Doctoral School will add to its offerings the tenth doctoral programme focused on Sport Sciences and Human Movement, which is also dovetailing with the centre’s tenth anniversary. The new programme will offer ten places per year to train researchers competent to design, develop and manage research projects in the fields of the Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, specifically in the specialisation areas of health and human movement, sports performance, economic and social management of sport and physical education.

With regard to University Master’s degrees, next academic year 16 will be offered, with Elisava’s Design and Communication joining the offerings for the first time. The University Master’s in Specific Didactics was changed to be offered 100% online in order to adapt to the new curricular trends in pre-school and primary school (ages 3-12); it will use transversal methodological approaches like project-based learning and discovery spaces. Now, a new edition of the University Master’s in Montessori Education (ages 0-6) is getting underway, which starts every two years and is endorsed by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

More in-house Master’s and postgraduate programmes are being offered

The number of in-house Master’s and postgraduate programmes has also grown since Elisava joined the UVic-UCC. This adds up to 35 Master’s programmes, all in the fields of design, creativity and communication, as well as 20 postgraduate programmes, all with the participation of a high percentage of international students and professionals. 

The Vic campus will also ad new offerings under the aegis of its International Centre for Continuing Education. In the field of Health, the new Master’s in Paediatric Physiotherapy is being offered, a programme coordinated with the Nexe Foundation which produces professionals specialising in physiotherapy to help children with developmental disorders and their families interact with their environment, along with the Master’s in Intervention in Adolescents with Behavioural Disorders, in conjunction with the ITA Centre, in which health professionals will receive theoretical training and a supervised practice in the psychological treatment of adolescents with behavioural disorders.

In terms of business, and dovetailing with the release of the new eDiversity online training platform, the postgraduate programme in Place Branding and Strategic Territory Management is getting off the ground, geared at ensuring that the communication and marketing work in a given territory gains a unique identity expressed via a brand and recognising specific geographic spaces. In the field of sport, the contents of the Master’s in Sport Management and Marketing has undergone a complete overhaul.

The university specialisation courses (15 ECTS or more) at the UVic campus for next year include training peer support agents in the Mental Health Chair. In the field of business, a training programme that addresses the social and charitable economy and cooperativism in a non-metropolitan environment is being launched, geared particularly to the region of central Catalonia. And finally, the course on Urban Planning and Health: Urban Planning as a Tool of Health is getting off the ground in conjunction with the UPC School.

The International Centre for Continuing Education at the UManresa is renewing its range of postgraduate programmes in all its fields of expertise. In the Health Sciences, it is launching the Master’s in Patient Safety and Management of Health Risk and is reactivating the Master’s in the Digital Transformation of Health and Social Organisations, the postgraduate in Big Data and Business Analytics and the expert diploma/certification  in Applied Project Management. In the field of Education, it is continuing to offer its Master’s in Digital Tools, Strategies, Competences and Methodologies in Education.

It has also introduced major new contents in some of its existing programmes, such as the addition of a module on “Tactical Emergency Casualty Care” (TECC) in the Master’s in Out-of-Hospital Emergencies, and the conversion of the Master’s in Orofacial Motricity and Neuroeducation and the postgraduate in Sinology  and Mammary Pathology for Nursing into a hybrid modality.

The professional campus continues to offer its programmes

The UVic-UCC is still offering professional training, which consolidates the seven upper-level vocational training programmes (CFGS) already being offered. These offerings make this Catalan university the one with the most extensive programme options and the leader in introducing vocational training into the university setting.

Yet another year, the UVic-UCC will offer three CFGS programmes at the Centre Teknós, between Vic and Granollers; the one on 3D Animation Programmes: Interactive Games and Environments, the one on Development of Multiplatform Applications and the one on Marketing and Advertising. It will also offer its programme in Processes and Quality in the Food Industry at the Centre Kreas in Olot; and the ones on Dental Prosthetics, Administration and Finances focused on managing sports entities and clubs, and Pre-School Teaching, the latter geared at science and experimentation at young ages, at the UManresa Professional Campus.

In fact, the cycles taught at the Manresa campus next academic year will complete the introduction of the simulation methodology. Thus, students in the upper-level vocational training programmes will do part of their training at the CISARC, the University’s simulation innovation centre, a facility designed to simulate environments similar to the ones they will find when they join the workforce, where the participants are put in circumstances where they are obligated to think, take decisions (sometimes under pressure), work as a team, negotiate, solve adverse situations, etc.  “The goal is for the students to be capable of conceptualising and defending their own professional judgement, which will make all the difference when they join the job market”, says Antoni Llobet, the rector’s delegate for development  of the UVic-UCC Professional Campus.

About the UVic-UCC

Open to the world and focused on comprehensive student service, the UVic-UCC offers educational programmes in the fields of the biosciences, communication, education, business, engineering, digital technologies, sport, languages, translation, health and design.

Located in a university town and rooted in the region of central Catalonia, it particularly emphasises the relationship between faculty and students in the quest for global education and professional job placement. This academic year 2020-2021, it has 9,907 students in official degree programmes and more than 9,763 in continuing education, and it has a campus in Vic (UVic), one in Manresa (UManresa) and a branch in Granollers.