Pioneering step by the UPC at the Martorell Vocational Training Center: it will allow graduates to obtain professional certificates.
Next year, one hundred places will be available to obtain the qualification of technician in mobility degrees.
BarcelonaNext year, a new path to obtaining a vocational training (VT) qualification will be available in Catalonia. This Tuesday, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Department of Education agreed to launch a new training path at the UPC's Martorell VT center (FPCAT-UPC Campus for Sustainable Mobility) that will allow students to obtain a technical or higher technical qualification through professional certificates.
Until now, professional certificates were considered a resource for already active professionals to accredit the competencies, knowledge, or skills they already develop in their work, in order to obtain an official qualification that recognized these aptitudes, as required by the labor market. However, next year the Baix Llobregat vocational training center will open the door to a new use for these modules that until now had not been considered in Catalonia: students of professional certificates will be able to obtain an intermediate or advanced degree if they add to their studies the transversal subjects taught by the Institut Obert de Catalunya (IOC) and complete a final degree project.
The UPC center in Martorell will be, for the moment, the only one in Catalonia to offer this option in three intermediate-level cycles (automotive vehicle electromechanics, electromechanical maintenance and mechanization) and four advanced-level cycles (automotive engineering, industrial mechatronics, production programming in mechanical manufacturing, and automation). "At the center, we already offered courses to obtain professional certificates, but this new path could be a good option to bring vocational training to a different audience. A profile of older people who are already working and who perhaps weren't considering obtaining a vocational training degree," Imma Ribas, vice-rector for quality and language policy at the UPC, explained to ARA.
With all this, the UPC estimates that by 2025, a thousand students will pass through the Martorell center, who, Before the arrival of the UPC it was operating at half speed"It's important to keep in mind that each professional certificate is taught in very small groups of 15 or 16 students, because all of these tasks involve highly manual work using machinery that requires personalized attention and, therefore, cannot be completed with the typical class size of 35 or 40 students," explains Ribas. Thus, next year, 45 places per semester (around 100 per year) will be reserved for the new program of professional certificates and cross-curricular subjects that should lead to a vocational training degree. The rest will be for the courses the school currently offers.
UPC Rectoral Elections
Meanwhile, this Tuesday, the current rector of the UPC, Daniel Crespo, announced that he is calling elections for the university's rectorate after his four-year term ends. Crespo also explained that he will run again to continue leading the Polytechnic University. Thus, once the elections are called, the option to submit candidates for rector will be open from April 8 to 10, and voting will take place after Easter, from May 13 to 16. The name of the new rector should be announced on May 16, provided the winner of the elections wins by more than 50% of the votes.
