European Convergence

Universidad Carlos III, Madrid was the first Spanish public university to adapt all its programs to the EHEA; this involved the adaptation of its degree programs and its teaching models. The first milestone in achieving this was the first class to graduate under the new system in the 2011/12 academic year; while in the 2013/14 academic year, all undergraduate degree programs were incorporated: 26 Bachelor’s degrees and six Double degrees. All degree and diploma programs adapted their teaching plans and exams accordingly, within the given timeframe. On postgraduate programs, we are continuing to make progress in the adaptation of the University Masters.

During the 2013/14 academic year, all Bachelor’s degree programs offered by the Schools Law and Social Science, Humanities and Communication and Library Science were reviewed by a commission of experts. The review of the remaining Bachelor’s degree programs, at the School of Engineering, will be carried out at the end of 2014. UC3M has participated in the official qualifications life cycles program: VERIFY, MONITOR and REACREDIT. Since 2012, the University has submitted 24 Bachelor’s degree programs and 12 Master’s programs for evaluation and obtained a positive global evaluation. In the 2013/14 academic year, five degree programs participated in a pilot ACREDITATION program organized by the Fundación Madrid+d and achieved national reaccreditation. UC3M continues to develop its offer of degree programs by means of verification. During 2013 and 2014, the University began to verify its Doctorate programs in order to meet the current, relevant legislation.

Furthermore, during the 2011/12 academic year, the adaptation of classrooms to meet the EHEA teaching model continued, as can be seen in Annex II of this report. 60.38% of the total of the University’s classrooms were adapted, although there are differences according to Campus: in Getafe the figure is 85.29% in Leganes 31.7% and in Colmenarejo, 53.57%

In the postgraduate area, on 5th July 2012, the Governing Council passed regulations in relation to Doctorate programs at UC3M, following the Real Decreto 99/2011 (Royal Decree 99/2011) of 28th January, by which teaching of official doctorates is regulated.

With regard to the reinforcement of interdisciplinary interaction, in the 2013/14 academic year the new norm regarding complementary training was applied; this has led to an increase in possible study combinations and allowed students to select additional options, over and above those required by their study program. This applies to all graduate degree programs including Double degrees and it allows students to study subjects not included in their degree study plan. In 2013/14, a total of 401 students were able to enroll for complementary training subjects and 16 additional options.
 

The success achieved by the adoption and implementation of EHEA is clearly shown by the reduction in the number of students abandoning their studies:

Clearly the number of students dropping out of the University has decreased significantly from 40% to 28%, but the decrease is especially noteworthy at the School of Engineering, falling from 55% to 33%.

One of the strategic dimensions of Campus Carlos III is internationalization and with this in mind, there has been a significant effort to promote international mobility across the collectives that make up the University community. In the 2011/12 academic year, more than 1,300 places were offered throughout Europe; this allowed more than 1,000 UC3M students to study abroad in this academic year. In the same academic year, national mobility programs were managed by international relations services Sistema de Intercambio entre Centros Universitarios Españoles (SICUE) (Spanish Universities Interchange System) and its sister project SÉNECA for the first time. In the 2012/13 academic year, 1,230 international mobility places were offered: 1,485 at European universities and 335 at universities in the rest of the world. In the 2013/14 academic year, the number of mobility places continued to increase, rising to 2,054: 1,622 at European universities and 432 outside Europe.

UC3M Outgoing Exchange Students by Year and Mobility Program

Similarly, UC3M received 900 students from exchange programs in the 2011/12 academic year, rising to 1,132 in the 2012/13 academic year, of which 852 came from European universities and 381 from non-European universities. Finally, in the 2013/14 academic year, CCIII received 1,340 students on exchange programs, 689 coming from European universities and 471 from non-European universities.
 

Overseas Incoming Exchange Students by Year and Mobility Program

In fact, according to official data from the Organismo Autónomo de Programas Educativos Europeos (OAPEE) (Autonomous Body of European Educational Programs), in the 2011/12 academic year, UC3M was the first university in Spain in terms of Erasmus mobility, with 5.25% outgoing of enrolled students against a national average of 2.8%, as can be seen in the graph below:

OAPEE have not yet published data for more recent academic years.

With regard to the mobility of faculty, there were 66 Erasmus places in the 2010/11 academic year, 90 in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 academic years and 65 in 2013/14, in addition to other types of international mobility. Since the 2009/10 academic year, mobility plans for administration and service staff have been put introduced, with 17 places being offered in that year, 30 in the 2010/11 academic year, 34 in 2011/12, 40 in 2012/13 and 44 in 2013/14. Furthermore, within the Proper Research Program have been awarded since 2010 to 2014, 135 postdoctoral mobility aids and 320 predoctoral mobility aids.

In the 2008/09 academic year, plans for internship mobility were introduced with 32 students participating in 2011/12. Furthermore, for the first time four places for teacher training were offered for which more than twenty applications were received. In the 2012/13 academic year, forty students participated and in 2013/14 there were fifty places.

Universidad Carlos III, Madrid is the Spanish university offering the highest number of undergraduate degree programs taught in English, or with a subject or subjects taught in English. As can be seen in the table in Annex III, the offer of courses and subjects in English is very high at UC3M. Moreover, the number of credits available in English increases each year, the rise in 2013 being especially significant.

In the Postgraduate area, two new Master’s programs, taught in English, were introduced in 2011/12: Master’s in Finance and Master’s in Management; furthermore, three new Master’s in English were introduced in the 2012/13 academic year: Master’s in Industrial Economics and Markets (Energy, Transport and Telecommunications), Master’s in Telematics and Master’s in Marketing. These new Master’s programs complete the Postgraduate offer in English which can be seen in detail in Annex III. In the 2012/13 academic year, ten University Master’s were taught and a further three new Master’s programs in english are being offered in 2014/15: MBA, Economics and Aeronautical Engineering.

In 2013/14, the number of credits available in English increased, with respect to 2009/10, by more than 150% in Bachelor’s degree programs and by more than 270% in postgraduate programs. In Bachelor’s dgree programs more than 18% of all ECTS were taught in English and in Master’s programs the total was 17.93%

Furthermore, the large number of students from other countries who study in Masters’s and Doctorate programs are a further indicator of the internationalization of UC3M, as can be seen in the following graph: