Once I've being admitted to a course at the UPC, can I enrol in whatever I want?

NO. If you are enrolling for the first time in the first year of a bachelor's degree course as a full-time student, you must enrol in 30 credits if the enrolment is semester-based or 60 credits if it is annual. However, the section on minimum academic progress requirements of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC  provides that part-time students may enrol in a maximum of 36 ECTS credits per academic year (18 per semester). No justification is required to enrol as a part-time student. You must simply indicate this choice on the enrolment application form when processing your first enrolment. All subsequent enrolments will also be considered part-time, unless you request a change and your request is approved.

If you are enrolling in a course for the first time and are not enrolling in the first year thereof, you must enrol in at least 12 credits your first academic year.

If you are still completing the initial stage (the 60 ECTS credits of the first academic year of the course), remember that, as a general rule, you may not enrol for compulsory or optional courses from other curricular areas until you have passed the minimum number of initial-stage credits established by the school for minimum academic progress (see Section 5.5 of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC ).

Can I change my enrolment if I realise I've chosen the wrong subjects?

Your enrolment may only be changed if the school makes changes to the examination times or dates after you have processed it and these changes prevent you from attending class or being assessed on a given subject. .

Your school will set a deadline for each teaching period for enrolment modification requests, which will be decided by the director or dean.

Can I cancel my enrolment?

As a general rule, no. However, if you are a new first-year student, you may, in duly justified cases and a single time, ask the director or dean of the school for permission to cancel your full enrolment, providing you do so within two months of the start of the teaching activities, regardless of the date on which you processed the enrolment itself.

If you cancel the enrolment and do not request that your place be reserved, you will need to pre-enrol again, pursuant to the current rules for admission to the course in question, should you later decide to re-enrol.

Cancellation of the enrolment will only entitle you to a refund of the public fee paid in those cases recognised under the UPC budget (see Section 2.10 of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC .

What can I do if I have been admitted to the UPC but cannot begin the course?

When you have been assigned a place and, for an exceptional reason, are unable to begin the course, you may ask your school to reserve your place within the established enrolment period.

If your request is approved, your enrolment will be processed for the purposes of opening a record, and you will be considered a UPC student for all intents and purposes.

Places may be reserved for a maximum of two semesters or one academic year. Only in cases of justified serious illness or accident may this period be extended.

If your request is denied, or if you fail to submit it in time, you will lose the assigned place and will have to be re-admitted through the pre-enrolment process, pursuant to the current rules for admission to the course in question, in order to re-enrol.

If your request is denied, or if you fail to submit it in time, you will lose the assigned place and will have to be re-admitted through the pre-enrolment process, pursuant to the current rules for admission to the course in question, in order to re-enrol.

Who decides how much a course costs?

Each year, the Department of the Presidency of the Government of Catalonia publishes a decree in the Official Gazette of the Catalan Government establishing the fees for the provision of academic services at public universities with regard to homologated qualifications. These fees vary depending on how experimental the qualification is. This decree also establishes the fees for other university services, such as the issue of transcripts, enrolment and academic record charges, or the issue of degrees. These fees cover about 15% of the real cost of the qualification, as they apply to homologated and, thus, subsidised, courses. You can view the full text of the Decree on Public Fees at: http://www.upc.edu/sga/es/matricula-e/precios/decreto-de-precios-publicos (in Catalan and Spanish).

Do I qualify for any reductions or discounts on the enrolment fee?

Yo may do. Discounts are given on the enrolment fee for certain personal circumstances. These circumstances must be duly accredited, pursuant to the applicable regulations, when processing the enrolment at your school secretary's office:

Large family (valid certificate required).

Students who meet the academic and financial conditions to apply for general or mobility grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC from the Spanish) and who apply for such grants when processing their enrolment.

Students who have earned a mark of Outstanding in upper secondary school (batxillerat) or won a special upper secondary school award.

Students who have earned a mark of Outstanding at the University. The enrolment fee will be waived for the same number of subjects/credits as for which the mark of Outstanding was awarded.

Students who have won a UPC-recognised Knowledge Olympiad.

Disabled students with a degree of disability of 33%. These students are exempt from the public fees.

Victims of terrorism and the spouses and children thereof. These students are exempt from the public fees.

Students who have won a UPC Prize for Research by Upper Secondary School (Batxillerat) Students. The fees will be waived for all credits in which they enrol for the first time in their first academic year.

Victims of domestic violence and their children. These students are exempt from the public fees.

Exchange students from other universities enrolled in bachelor's degree, first-cycle or first- and second-cycle courses, provided that under the exchange programme they must process their enrolment at their school of origin.

What is a bachelor's degree course?

It is a course offering general training geared towards preparing students to exercise specific professions and leading to the title of graduate. It consists of 240 credits: 60 per year for 4 years.

What are graduates called under the new system?

Graduate in (X) from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

What core training is provided in the engineering programmes?

The common part of these programmes is completed at the start of the course and will consist of at least 60 credits, of which at least 36 will be related to the specific branch of knowledge of the degree. However, according to the UPC framework for bachelor's degree courses, the first and second years (120 ECTS credits) of courses belonging to the same branch of knowledge (e.g. industrial engineering) will be the same.

What is an ECTS credit?

It is the measurement unit used to design qualifications within the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It is calculated based on the work required of the student (class and practical hours, studying, preparation and sitting of examinations, etc.). At the UPC, one ECTS credit is equivalent to 25 hours, or, exceptionally, up to 30 hours for external work placement and the bachelor's thesis.

What is the learning method like?

The system is student-centred. Courses are designed based on the skills to be acquired by the student. Consequently, in addition to class hours, they take student effort into account. The goal is for students to acquire the skills they need to continue to learn independently, think creatively and engage in interdisciplinary problem-solving once they graduate.
Under the new model, teaching is structured around the student's learning process. The curricula are based on the skills and abilities to be acquired by the student, which is why student effort, in addition to class hours, is taken into account.

What is meant by competencies?

The set of skills, abilities and attitudes that constitute the desired learning outcome of a given course. In other words, it refers to everything that a student will know or be able to demonstrate upon completion of the educational process.

What are generic or transversals competencies?

Transversals competencies are those things that the graduate will be able to understand or do upon completion of the learning process, regardless of the specific course. The transversals competencies established by the UPC are: capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability and social commitment, effective oral and written communication, knowledge of a foreign language (preferably English), teamwork, independent learning and proper use of information resources.

What are specific competencies?

Specific competencies are those skills that a graduate will have acquired upon completion of a given course, and they are specifically defined for each qualification. They can be broken down into discipline-specific, academic and professional competencies.

Is knowledge of a foreign language essential?

All bachelor’s degree students at the UPC must be able to demonstrate their knowledge of a foreign language in order to graduate. Students who began a degree in the 2014-2015 academic year after finishing upper secondary school education or a higher training cycle in Spain must submit a B2 level certificate or above. Consult the following webpage for information: Certify your language level. All other students must prove their competency in a foreign language in any of the four ways established. Consult the following webpage (in Catalan) for information: Competència en 3a llengua .

How is assessment performed within the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework?

Integration in the EHEA entails significant changes in the teaching structure and methods, learning process and assessment system. Under the European credit system, student work is used to gauge academic activity , and curricular objectives must be precisely defined, as must how each subject contributes towards achieving them.

What are the curricula like?

The primary objective of the curricula is the acquisition of skills. Therefore, the subjects are defined based on the skills that students are expected to have mastered by the time they complete their studies. These skills must be assessable and are reflected in the student's marks.

Generic skills are those skills that are not oriented towards the practice of a specific professional function or task, but rather are useful in most professions and can be applied to a variety of situations (communication, problem-solving, reasoning, leadership ability, creativity, motivation, teamwork and, especially, the capacity to learn). Specific skills are skills that a university graduate can be expected to have mastered and are deployed on three levels: core instrumental skills, which are of an essentially scientific nature and are shared by all areas of knowledge; skills related to the cross-disciplinary scientific and technological foundations of a given field; and the applied technical skills pertaining to the specific qualification.

What levels of assessment are carried out at the UPC?

Assessment is performed at different levels:

-Assessment of the individual compulsory and optional subjects included in a curriculum.

-Assessment of the curricular areas. Curricular areas consist of a set of subjects with the same learning objectives that are assessed as a whole through a procedure known as curricular assessment. The specific school offering the course is responsible for the curricular assessment. The curricula for all UPC bachelor's degree courses must define at least two curricular areas: an initial stage, consisting of the 60 ECTS credits that make up the first year of the curriculum; and the rest of the subjects in the curriculum, which may include the bachelor's thesis. The bachelor's thesis is a compulsory subject that must be worth at least 12 and at most 30 ECTS credits. For degrees linked to regulated professions, the bachelor's thesis must be worth at least 24 ECTS credits.

-Assessment of any additional academic activities that may be recognised for credit.

What rights do I have with regard to assessment?

You are entitled to be assessed on any subject in which you enrol; however, if you choose subjects with conflicting schedules, you are not entitled to be assessed on any date other than the one originally stipulated. If, for an exceptional and duly justified reason, you are unable to attend an examination, the school will review the specific circumstances of your case and, where applicable, take the necessary steps to allow you to sit the examination during the teaching period.

If you do not participate in any of the assessment activities for a subject, or do not participate in a sufficient number of them in the opinion of the responsible lecturer, you will receive the mark of Absent.

You are entitled to know, at the start of the year, the assessment criteria and marking method approved by the school for each subject, neither of which may be modified in any way during the academic year.

What rights do I have with regard to the review of assessment results?

You are entitled to request a review of the results of any official assessment within the period previously established for this purpose by your school. You are likewise entitled to request a review of the recognition of credits within a maximum period of seven days from the date the original decision is published.

You are further entitled to receive a decision on any appeal you might file against the decisions of the lecturer for a disputed subject within a maximum period of fifteen days of the filing date. Under no circumstances may a review result in a lower mark than that originally obtained.

If you appeal a decision and the appeal is decided in your favour, you will be entitled to enrol after the decision is handed down, even when this means enrolling past the official deadline.
In addition to the review process, and for the purpose of academic guidance, you are also entitled to receive from the lecturer for a given subject both an assessment of your work on any activity subject to assessment and an explanation of the mark awarded.

You may contest the decisions of the director or dean by filing an appeal with the rector within a maximum period of one month from receipt of the decision in question.

What is a curricular assessment? Who carries it out and when?

Curricular assessment offers an overall assessment of your performance in all of the subjects included in a given curricular area. Please see the course guide to determine which curricular areas are included in your course.

Each school establishes the mechanisms to be used for curricular assessment, and these mechanisms must be published. The assessment is conducted by a specific assessment committee, which, for the assessment of the initial stage, will include, at least, both lecturers and students who have already successfully completed the stage in question.

You will be assessed on each curricular area once you have been assessed on each of the component subjects thereof. In the initial stage, when the minimum academic performance established by the school is the 60 ECTS credits that comprise the stage, you will also be subject to a curricular assessment once the deadline for the successful completion of those credits has passed, whether or not you have already been assessed on each individual subject. The curricular assessment of the initial stage is separate from any marks you may earn for subjects belonging to curricular areas other than those in which you have been authorised to enrol.

Where is the result of the curricular assessment recorded?

On the official curricular assessment results. These results are prepared and communicated to all students subject to curricular assessment. For students who successfully pass the curricular assessment, provided they have earned a numerical mark of 5.0 or higher in each of the subjects, the results will include the final numerical and descriptive mark for each subject and the numerical mark for the curricular area as a whole, which will be the average mark for all the subjects weighted by the number of credits. Students who fail the curricular assessment will receive a mark of Pending and no numerical mark will be given.

How is the area comprising the initial stage assessed?

-If you pass the initial stage, the official curricular assessment results will include all the information mentioned in the previous section.

-If you do not pass it but have not yet exceeded the deadline for doing so, you will receive a mark of Pending and no numerical mark will be given. This means that you will need to be re-assessed in the area comprising the initial stage at the end of the next teaching period.

-If you do not pass it and have reached the deadline for doing so, the report will list the individual subjects passed and you will receive a mark of Fail for the initial stage.

-For more information about your options for continuing your studies in these circumstances, see the section on minimum academic progress requirements of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC.

How is each individual subject assessed?

If you pass the initial stage, the official curricular assessment results will include the final descriptive and numerical marks obtained (Outstanding/Very Good: 9.0–10; Good: 7.0–8.9, Satisfactory: 5.0–6.9. If you do not pass it, you will receive a mark of Unsatisfactory (0–4.9).

If you do not participate in any of the assessment activities for the subject, or do not participate in a sufficient number of them in the opinion of the responsible lecturer, you will receive the mark of Absent.

What happens if I fail a subject with a numerical mark of 4 or higher?

You can choose whether or not to re-enrol in subjects that you fail with a numerical mark of 4.0 or higher, as they will be included in the curricular assessment process. Under that process, the mark may be changed to Satisfactory or maintained as Unsatisfactory.

If you decide to re-enrol in a subject for which you were already assessed in a previous academic period and for which you received a mark of Unsatisfactory with a numerical mark of 4.0 or higher (provided it was on the last assessment of the subject), that mark will continue to be listed on future official results unless you earn a higher one , in which case, the higher mark will be used.

Can I withdraw from the curricular assessment?

If you do not want the curricular assessment criteria to be applied to you, whether in a given period or for a specific curricular area, you may request a withdrawal at the school where you are taking the course within the established period. In both cases, you will have to re-enrol in any subject you have failed.

For more information on the assessment process at the UPC, see Section 4 of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC.

Can I be enrolled at the UPC for as many years as I like?

It depends on your academic performance. In order to ensure the best use of resources, the UPC has established, in the section on minimum academic progress requirements of the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC, three assessment-based mechanisms for monitoring academic performance: the minimum number of credits to be passed the first academic year of a course; the minimum number of credits to be passed in the initial stage (i.e. the 60 ECTS credits of the first academic year of a course), which is established by each school; and the minimum academic progress requirements following completion of the minimum number of initial-stage credits, which is determined using the academic performance parameter.

How will I know whether or not I've met the minimum academic progress requirements?

The school will tell you before the next enrolment period whether or not you have met the requirement to pass at least 12 credits the first academic year (a mark of Fail for the first academic year) or the minimum academic progress requirements for the initial stage. Each school establishes the minimum number of credits to be passed, which ranges from 42 to 60 ECTS credits from the initial stage. You must pass these credits within a maximum period of two academic years if you are enrolled as a full-time student or four academic years if you are enrolled as a part-time student.

Once you have met the minimum academic progress requirements for the initial stage, the school will tell you whether you have achieved an academic performance parameter of less than 0.5 for a maximum of two consecutive teaching periods (that is, whether you failed to pass 50% of the credits for which you were enrolled in the teaching period), as well as the measures to be taken, if any, as a result during the next enrolment period (e.g. limiting the total number of credits for which you may enrol). Any student with an academic performance parameter of less than 0.3 for three consecutive teaching periods (when the periods are semesters) or two consecutive teaching periods (when they are annual) may be automatically dismissed from the course.

For more information, see Section 5.8 on minimum academic progress requirements in the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC.

Do all credits count for the purposes of calculating the academic performance parameter and the 12 credits that must be passed the first year of a course?

No. Validated and recognised credits are not included in the calculation.

What happens if I do not pass 12 credits the first year?

The assessment committee will assign you a mark of Fail for the first academic year. You will have a period to appeal this decision and, if the appeal is decided in your favour, that is, if it is determined that you have passed more than 12 credits, you will be able to continue with your studies normally.

If the fail mark is upheld and you believe that your case qualifies for the exception provided for in Section 5.7 on minimum academic progress requirements in the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC, you may file an appeal with the director or dean of your school, attaching any documentary evidence, by the deadline established in the general calendar.

What if I do not meet the minimum academic progress requirements for the initial stage?

The assessment committee will assign you the mark of Fail. As in the previous case, you will have a period to appeal the decision and, if the appeal is decided in your favour, that is, if it is determined that you have met the minimum academic progress requirements for the initial stage, you will be able to continue with your studies normally.

If the fail mark is upheld and you believe that your case qualifies for the exception provided for in Section 5.7 on minimum academic progress requirements in the Academic Regulations for Bachelor's Degree Courses at the UPC, you may file an appeal with the director or dean of your school, attaching any documentary evidence, by the deadline established in the general calendar.

What if I would like to re-enrol in the same course or enrol in another one?

If you fail to meet the minimum academic progress requirements for the initial stage or to pass at least 12 credits the first academic year, you will not be allowed to continue on the course at the same school. You may re-enrol in the course at another UPC school or enrol in any other UPC course that does not have the same initial stage as the course from which you have been dismissed.

Important: To enrol in the new course, you must be assigned a place in the pre-enrolment process through the Catalan University Admissions Advisory Office or according to the admission rules in force for the course in question. To re-enrol in a course from which you have been dismissed or enrol in a different course with the same initial stage, you must wait two years from the time of your expulsion. You must moreover obtain prior authorisation from the rector and be assigned a place by the Catalan University Admissions Advisory Office in accordance with the admission rules in force for the course in question.