Engineering in Spain Visit of Swedish Delegation Narciso García Escuela Politécnica Superior Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Bilaga 5, möte 32

Two-tier system Since its beginning, there were engineers and assistants Assistant studies were usually established few years after their corresponding engineering ones The name of the assistants changed to technical engineers in 1964 Currently, –engineers require five years (faster allowed) –technical engineers require three years

Years of study Technical engineers: always three years Engineers (admission year): –Before 1957: admission exam plus five years – : two plus five years – : five years – : six years –1994-today: five years (faster allowed) PhD in Engineering since 1957

Relations between the two levels Technical engineering is called first cycle Engineering is called first and second cycle Technical engineers can join the second cycle of their corresponding engineerings Since 1990, there are second cycle only engineerings like electronics, automation, materials, geodesy, environment,... Current trend to merge both levels into engineering (4 years) plus master

Scheme Technical Eng. Engineering 1CEng. 2C PhD Programme 18 years 21 years23 years>27 years

Delays for the degree Except in Computer Science, it is required to complete a Master’s Thesis to obtain the degree (even for Technical Engineers) Students require many years to complete their degrees: –Average of 4.5 for technical engineers –Average of 7.5 for engineers –So, almost 1.5 years per academic year

Professional Associations There is a professional association for registered engineers per engineering area (except in Computer Science) The associations (“Colegios Profesionales”) are recognised in the Constitution Only holders of the appropriate engineering degree can be registered engineers in that area So, there are important difficulties in the evolution of the engineering degrees Currently, there are different associations for engineers and technical engineers

Clouds appearing in the horizon Sharp decline of Spanish fertility –1975 about 2/3 million newborn (645000) –1990 about 1/3 million newborn (340000) –Stable situation until 2000 and increase –Expected decrease of 4% admissions per year until 2008 Huge university offer –8600 in telecommunications (eng. + tech.eng.) per year (Spain has 42 million inhabitants)

Universities in Spain Public Universities, managed by the different Regional Governments Church Universities, under the Concordate of 1955 with the Holy See (not for profit) Private Universities since 1994, many of them for profit

Egna tillägg Årsavgift ca 800 euro motsvarar 10 % av intäkterna. Ungefär samma pengar/student som i Sv Lokalerna ägs av universitetet, inga kapitalkostnader endast underhåll. Stor administration Övergång till cykel 2 kräver ca ett års extra studier Starkt reglerade kurslistor Samma klagan på motivation och förkunskaper Alla börjar vid 18 års ålder och bor hemma Gymnasienivån är endast 2 år (7+2) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Några nyckeltal på en av UPM:s skolor för den kortare utbildningen: 2000 studenter, 200 lärare o 140 administrativ personal