UVic-UCC will offer the first Degree in Automotive Engineering in Catalonia in a sandwich course format

UVic-UCC will offer the first Degree in Automotive Engineering in Catalonia in a sandwich course format in the 2017-2018 academic year. To do so, UVic-UCC has created a curriculum that involves a combination of teaching periods at the University with extended periods acquiring experience in workplaces in the automotive industry. According to the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), Laura Dempere, "an integrated plan for in-company internships is essential for the training of future engineers, given the complexity of the automotive industry and all the processes involved in the construction of a vehicle." The course will be taught mainly at UVic-UCC's Granollers base, and students will keep in permanent contact with the companies and conditions in the sector from the first year onwards.

Growing demand for highly qualified professionals
The new degree course and its curriculum have been developed with the Automotive Industry Cluster of Catalonia (CIAC), which includes two car manufacturers and more than 170 enterprises in the automotive industry, and is a response to the sector's needs for highly qualified bachelor's degree level professionals to join the industry in the coming years. According to Dempere, "specialised engineers will be needed, but they must also have comprehensive knowledge of the sector and the trends within it." The Dean points out that "companies were involved in the design of the degree course, their current needs were considered while we continued to focus on the challenges that graduates will face in the companies of the future." In this context, "the degree course places special emphasis on the industry 4.0 paradigm, and on the future of driving in the emerging era of knowledge" and trains graduates to be "digital engineers with skills in electric vehicles, autonomous driving and collaborative robotics."

In Catalonia, the automotive industry consists of a wide range of top level manufacturers and suppliers. Indeed, the CIAC anticipates a promising future for companies working in the field: in 2017 alone, it estimates a 4% increase in vehicle production and 6% in the manufacture of components. These figures will lead to the creation of 2,000 jobs over the year. However, specific training in automotion in Catalonia previously consisted of only two bachelor's and master's degrees.

The increased demand for engineering graduates with specific training in automotion for the areas of R+D, design and engineering is backed by figures such as the fact that the R + D department at SEAT alone has more than 1,000 engineers, and the company hired more than 100 engineers in 2015, according to Jürgen Stackmann, former president of the company. At Ficosa, the number of engineers working at the Viladecavalls plant increased by 60% between 2013 and 2015, according to figures provided by its CEO Xavier Pujol. The trend is also evident in the fact that 97% of the vacancies filled in the same period were offered to university graduates, and the company plans to create 240 more jobs for engineers and technology professionals by 2019.

A key feature of the degree course is its methodological innovation, which aims to foster contextualised learning, which is vital for maintaining a high level of motivation among students throughout their training. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methods are used in instruction of all subjects in order to ensure that students graduate not only with consolidated technical expertise, but also having obtained key competencies in real projects, such as teamwork, leadership skills, proactivity, organisation of tasks and resource management. PBL also fosters ties with the business sector. The programme places special emphasis on international mobility, and a third of the programme will be taught in English.

The Faculty of Science and Technology - engineering which meets the demands of the sector 
The degree course also ties in perfectly with the other engineering courses now available at UVic-UCC, because it requires advanced and specialised knowledge of mechanics, electronics and programming, as well as management and innovation in industries and production processes. This link is particularly evident in the Degree in Mechatronics Engineering, the first in this field at a Spanish university, which has been offered at the Faculty of Science and Technology since 2009, when it was created at the request of the industries in the surrounding area and was designed in conjunction with them. "We must understand the degree in terms of how mechatronics and artificial intelligence are applied to the automotive industry, a very specific and complex sector in which all the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution and the hyper-connected society converge," says Laura Dempere, who makes a comparison with the neurosciences as a highly multidisciplinary branch of knowledge, to explain this need for experts: "The car, like the brain, is a machine that is so complex that in order to obtain good results, the training required must be specific and unique, and take place at the intersection of areas that are broader in scope."

The UVic-UCC Degree in Mechatronics Engineering is based on the conviction that "the syllabuses, requirements of the market and professional profiles that worked a decade ago have become obsolete and need radical transformation," says Laura Dempere. On one hand, "companies, especially SMEs, need multi-skilled, capable engineers, trained through educationally innovative techniques, who can deal with different project areas." On the other, "the most important field in mechatronics, as well as the professional horizon for graduates, is robotics, both in industry and in the emerging fields of services robotics, and civil, domestic, educational and entertainment applications." The two degree courses complement each other perfectly, and are a response to the very high demand from business for professionals in these fields.