BALLESTER, Enrique Gimeno Ana Nieto Justo & SANCHEZ-RUIZ, Luis M.
Camino de Vera, 14, 46022 Valencia, Spain, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia
Abstract: Important changes took place in the Spanish higher education system during the early eighties. New laws concerning the university structure were approved by the Goverment which enabled the development of different syllabuses throughout Spanish universities in order to prepare us to face the XXI Century from a more advanced and flexible framework. This university reform law implied that universities would, on the one hand, share a common core in a given degree nation-wide, and on the other, establish their own priorities according to their environment by being allowed to offer subjects relative to their social demands, and more importantly, to give the student the opportunity to design -to a certain extent- his or her own curricula.
In this session the authors will approach issues concerning the present day situation and describe how this has affected the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in its concern for the coming century and the new perspectives from which Engineering Education can be viewed. Some of the direct implications on our courses include a special consideration of multimedia technology used as a training tool, involvement in international relations and student exchange programmes, relationship with industry and innovation programmes.
Important changes took place in the Spanish higher education system during the early eighties. A new law (Ley de Reforma Universitaria, LRU in the sequel) concerning the university structure was approved by the Central Government which enabled the development of different syllabuses throughout Spanish universities in order to prepare us to face the XXI Century from a more advanced and flexible framework. This university reform law implied that universities would, on the one hand, share a common core in a given degree nation-wide, and on the other, establish their own priorities according to their environment by being allowed to offer subjects relative to their social demands, and more importantly, to give the student the opportunity to design - up to a certain extent - his or her own curricula.
The Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), like all other Spanish universities, is immersed in this changing process, not only because of the general situation in Spain but because of its own concern for the coming century and the new perspectives from which Engineering Education can be viewed. Some of the direct implications on our courses include a special consideration of multimedia technology used as a training tool, involvement in international relations and student exchange programmes, relationship with industry and educational innovation programmes.
The creation of the university reform law was a lengthy process that meant a complete and drastic change in our university structure, studies and relations with the social environment. The changes that the LRU brought about and its consequences have still not come to an end and will not end, as is expected nowadays with anything willing to stay alive. Our world is a changing world and up until now, there is nothing to indicate that it should be any different in the future since history, evolution, progress, innovation and change are closely interrelated.
The LRU created a framework that made engineering education move into a credit system, with the theoretical contents of many subjects greatly reduced and many new 6-credit subjects added (4 hours/week during 15 weeks, since 1 credit = 10 contact class hours). This meant reviewing the contents of all the subjects and changing the teaching process if compressing previous teaching programmes was to be avoided, replacing blackboard hours for time spent queuing up at the Xerox machine.
Universities, within their given freedom to restructure their studies, sometimes went too far and created too many small courses which created a proliferation of different subjects taken at the same time by the students. This led the Central Government to introduce in 1998, after some years of testing different curricula designs at the universities, some mild restrictions to the number and length of the term and year subjects which can be taken since both kinds of subjects may coexist within a particular university curricular design. In this respect the minimum size for term subjects is 4.5 credits and 9 credits for annual subjects. On the other hand, in order to allow students to perform their own curricular design, within the foreseen period of time of their respective studies, they should not take more than nine different subjects per year or six subjects at a given moment, both quantities comprising the total number of term and annual subjects each student can take.
We shall develop our presentation concentrating on different issues relating to the actual trends of engineering education in Spain, giving specific data of our university which is, one of the 5 public universities in the Valencian Region, one of the 17 Spanish autonomies which has about 10% of the Spanish population and GNP, 4% of which comes from agriculture (oranges, other fruits, rice and vegetables mainly), 35% from industry (wood and furniture, shoes, clothes, ceramics, toys, food processing and construction), and 60% from services (tourism mainly).
UPV is a young university, with little more than a quarter of a century, whose degrees are related to its socio-economic needs: Architecture, Agricultural, Business Administration, Cartography and Geodesy, Civil, Computing, Industrial (Chemical, Design, Electrical, Electronic, Mechanical) and Telecommunication Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Fine Arts. Its number of students has increased constantly; in 1992, for example, the number of students was 23,237, reaching a total of 32,985 students in 1998. 2,150 students graduate each year and about 100 students are awarded their Ph.D. degree every year.
Due to an increasing amount of student failure, a study was commissioned by the Consejo Social (University Social Council) at the beginning of the nineties to analyze its origin in the previous ten years. This study showed that most of the dropouts took place between the first and second year of enrolment, and that over 40% of the students who completed a particular six year degree (Architecture), did so in more than eight years, without still having undertaken the final year project. The situation was similar in other degrees. Perhaps we should point out here that university access is higher in Spain than in other countries since one out of every three people ranging from 18-25 years goes to the University.
UPV wanted to improve students' academic productivity, being convinced of the high benefits this would convey for the surrounding society. For that reason UPV bet strongly on quality, the pillars of which are Teaching Innovation, International Relations and Collaboration between the University and the Private Sector, such as local companies, industries, etc., all of which are founded on the idea of innovation.
Every human organization must innovate and improve what they are producing, at least for two reasons. The first reason is based on the idea that the only things that exist are those for which there is a hope to be changed, that you can only improve when you change, that the future and progress of things is based on things that do not exist yet. Innovation, changing for the better, does not mean to turn the tables over or to change your skin, but to be aware that you can innovate only by using ingredients and decisions that do not yet exist. In order to innovate you must be ready to accept that something will not be the same. You cannot cross innovation's threshold if you are not willing to be a warrior, to risk and, quite likely, to gain by losing.
The second reason for an organization to innovate is a competitive one, things are worth what the others are willing to pay for them. This is a pragmatic and survival reason and, although the existence of Spanish universities is not in a hazardous situation in the near future, it would be hard for them to suffer an economic or social rentability analysis.
Thus, and assuming that the two statements above are true, there are clear reasons to innovate. What has to be determined is how much and how we have to undergo this process of innovation. How much has to be innovated is determined by comparing the difference between a future scenario, that is, between an idealized model of the results that we would like to achieve from our university organization, and a diagnosis of our present situation. On the other hand, how to carry out this process of innovation is determined designing the path that leads us from the diagnosed present moment to the idealized future.
We shall now assert a thesis that will not be proved. Surely it would require a monographic symposium: The organization of higher education is an intellectual, administrative and hierarchic structure that repels and disables innovation at all levels: governing bodies, faculty members, administartion personnel, research staff, etc. Society does demand universities to innovate. What people really want is that their children pass their exams, graduate and finally, find a job.
If this thesis is true, then we have ahead of us a cultural problem which escapes the university framework. Hence we cannot apply an institutional policy of absolute and general innovation within the university organization reaching each and every one of its parts, such as employing new teachers, student assessment, renovating equipment or curricula design.
We should therefore work instead on cellular innovation, pervading with a culture of change towards the better, in those cases where possible, to each cell of the system, and with a personalized treatment in each case.
From the above it follows that the institutional role is reduced to:
Fostering any new idea, since from the set of initiatives we will find the good ones. The support must be moral and economic.
Promoting the initiatives not undertaken by anybody else, finding competent people to develop them.
Generating a cultural environment according to which the unorthodox and the innovator is supported as a standard procedure.
Thus, although institutional innovation is not possible in todays' university structure, it is nevertheless possible to carry out cellular innovation since only individual cells are open to improvement.
Because of technological advances in modern societies with sudden and deep changes, it is clear that today's knowledge will be obsolete in just a few years. Hence our students' learning process must be adaptable to change. This requires an educational system where the student necessarily plays an active role.
In order to achieve this end, we have provided our classrooms with technological support. Our students at UPV increasingly use computers and multimedia as a learning aid, with informative functions. The teacher's role in the classroom has changed substantially by developing creative problems, suggesting ideas, promoting the activity of students within the classroom.
The technological support mentioned above and economic support to develop innovative teaching materials is promoted at UPV by means of a special "Educational Innovation Programme" which sets the framework for faculty members to apply for both human resources and material resources for their specific subjects. UPV grants and supervises these new developments, giving preference to interdisciplinary proposals involving more than one subject which therefore largely benefit from each other and make a more efficient use of the material.
At the beginning of introducing this technological process, there were groups of students where the innovation programmes were being applied in all subjects; groups where only part of the subjects belonged to the innovation programme, and groups which were 100% conventional. This allowed an analysis of student output to be carried out depending on the stream followed by the student. There was, therefore, and still is in some cases, a situation where new subjects and methodologies coexisted with a more traditional education. The innovation included an evaluation process with evaluation committees in some degrees.
In general, reluctance to innovate may have its origin in the lack of resources and, sometimes, fear to reduce the authority or level of the output. Innovation requires an effort from all the parts involved and an extensive civic culture of shared responsibilities and a sense of duty of the institutions towards its society and vice-versa.
Just as encouraging research and rewarding it is normal practise throughout higher education, UPV encourages excellence in lecturing but not just outstanding excellence but any small effort to improve or innovate. To this end, UPV has developed two different programmes: Ayuda Complementaria a la Investigacion (ACI) and Ayuda Complementaria a la Educacion (ACE). The former rewards research achievements and the latter educational achievements, such as, innovative programmes developed, cooperation with international programmes, tutoring foreign students, etc. Every lecturer that applies is rewarded according to the results obtained in his/her evaluation and is given means to improve their lecturing, attend meetings or visit other universities in order to improve their teaching.
International relations is one of the most important factors to improve teaching. It enables us to become familiar with other syllabus designs and teaching experiences, with mutual benefits as it facilitates sharing results obtained with different or the same methodology in different environments and backgrounds. A natural consequence of this mutual knowledge is an update of the programme contents of the different courses, with the aim of harmonizing the subjects with those taught in other European universities, as well as a future harmonization of degrees, achieving thus a validation. Language departments greatly benefit from international relations since their subjects are more appealing for their students who find language competence even more useful.
Spanish universities participate in a variety of European student exchange programmes: ERASMUS, LINGUA, LEONARDO and TEMPUS. In addition, new international projects have emerged with the US and South America, for example ALFA
The ERASMUS Programme was created to prevent education from being left aside in Europe and to turn the European Common Market into a reality involving also university education. This programme meant economic support for universities, their students and staff, with the aim of promoting student mobility and co-operation in the field of higher education in another EU member state. Our students were given the opportunity to get to know other cultures and a better understanding of the implications of becoming the European Union.
The European Student Exchange Programme, SOCRATES, is the successor of the ERASMUS programme. The number of exchanges has constantly increased since the very beginning. During the last academic year, 1997/98, 506 students from UPV completed part of their studies abroad in 17 different countries and 314 foreign students were registered at UPV. UPV also keeps relations with several US universities with which we are promoting interesting and fruitful student exchange programmes by means of 8 different projects. The main destinations of UPV students are United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Portugal, Finland and United States. In the opposite direction the countries from which we are receiving a greater number of students are France, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Romania, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, and Sweden.
There are general rules for these exchanges in a higher education institution of another member State to be carried out, such as:
the length of the period studying abroad must be between three to twelve months;
the host institution will waive academic costs although the home institution could demand them;
the students must receive an official and written recognition of their stay abroad, generally from the home institution;
the visiting students receive the total amount of the grants or student loans to which they are normally entitled, and which are awarded by their local authorities or other sources.
UPV adds some requirements, which we think are logical, such as having completed at least the second academic year and a sufficient command of the host country's language. When carrying out these exchanges at UPV, prior to the student's departure, the teachers of the corresponding departments coordinate the subjects the students are going to take, and/or conditions of the final year project if that is the case, with the tutors of the receiving institutions. Whenever possible, a teacher from Valencia visits each institution receiving UPV students and, should it be necessary, correct any possible discrepancy with the work originally planned in collaboration with those responsible. A copy of the work developed at the host institution is presented at UPV, together with the final mark awarded.
Exchange programmes with foreign institutions are attractive for Spanish students. This gives them additional motivation in learning since their grades are taken into account in order to qualify as candidates for the grants.
Experience has taught us that integration in the host institution and the results achieved abroad are better if the number of students is low, two being perhaps the ideal number. We avoid the risks of isolation, which could occur should there be just one student, and of forming a clan and therfore not immersing in the host university like any other student, should there be a large number.
The LEONARDO programme attempts to improve productivity in companies and to confront students with the industrial, economic and technical transformations which are taking place in other European countries. It is not so popular as the previously mentioned programme but an increasing number of students from UPV complete their training within this project in enterprises based in other countries. Last year 68 UPV students worked in 8 different countries.
The LINGUA programme aims to help Europeans overcome language barriers, to improve quantity and quality of the teaching and learning of foreign languages, to achieve the better qualification of the future workforce, making competitiveness possible within the internal market. An example of a LINGUA project carried out at UPV are two commercially available products on CD-ROM entitled CAMILLE: Espanol Interactivo for beginners of Spanish and a second multimedia package called CAMILLE: espanol en marcha, for intermediate learners of Spanish. This project was managed by Prof. Ana Gimeno-Sanz and consisted of developing multimedia courseware in each of the languages of the partners involved in the project: English, French, Dutch and Spanish.
TEMPUS is an acronym corresponding to Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the EC, May 7, 1990. It forms part of the global programme of community aid for the economic restructuring of the Central and Eastern European countries (the so-called PHARE Programme). Within this context, training has been identified as one of the most important fields of co-operation among the countries involved and the community. UPV participated in 8 different projects during last year.
Finally, UPV also participates in ALFA projects between the EU and Latin American universities. Very recently 3 of the projects in which UPV participated have been extended into 18. To mention a few examples, Luis Vives II focuses towards the improvement and innovation in industrial engineering education with the participation of 7 EU institutions and 7 Latin-American universities; San Alberto focuses towards linking Environmental Euro-engineering with Latin American societies and, finally, SERT that focuses towards teaching Architecture.
There are some burdens involved in international relations but the benefits pay off the costs of travelling and attending co-ordination meetings, let alone the red tape expenses. It is also clear that an additional dedication of a great number of teachers is required. This participation is encouraged and rewarded at UPV by several means including the aforementioned ACE Teaching Programme.
UPV also participates in the INTERCAMPUS programme with Spanish and Latin American universities. Last year 71 UPV students stayed in 15 different countries.
The enforcement of the University Reform Law (LRU) has helped the development of university R+D knowledge and results, collaborating with companies in various ways. In 1988 a National Programme of R+D was implemented, and in 1989 UPV created the Centre for the Transfer of Technology and the Postgraduate Training Centre. Previously UPV had already created the Student Employment Centre. In 1996 UPV created CERES, the Centre for the Relations with the Socio-economic Environment which coordinates the other 3 existing centres and designs new strategies in order to improve its relation with the socio-economic environment and strengthen the leading and innovating role of UPV. This year an R+D Institute, jointly co-ordinated by UPV and the National Scientific Research Council, has been created to cover the area of Innovation Management.
In order to foster initiatives and creativity in its environment, the Centre for the Transfer of Technology set up the IDEAS programme (Initiatives for the Development of New Companies) by means of which students in their last years are helped to create new companies. The programme finances the development of the technical project which may also have academic recognition in the sense that it may be the result of a final year project. This programme is becoming increasingly appealing thanks to its good reception among students, and also because teachers also encourage their students to participate. However, this programme is still far from its full potential: 4 companies were created during 92/94, 11 companies during 94/96 and 12, created during 96/97, very few considering that over 2000 students graduate each year. Nonetheless this programme is definitively changing the mentality that students have towards creating their own enterprise.
The growing complexity acquired by science and technology makes it necessary for UPV staff dedicated to R+D to collaborate with existing research personnel in other national as well as international universities, research centres, private companies, seeking to complement their work both scientifically and financially. In order to help the interaction with enterprises and other institutions, several institutes have been created so that the customer/provider relationship becomes a co-operation relationship in which the university becomes a technological partner.
The institutes are created to meet the demand which is not satisfied in certain R+D fields and will be closed if demand ceases to exist. The institutes provide the companies with all kinds of R+D services including specialised training. By means of institutes, information flows in both directions with a continuous interaction. The implementation of co-operation results means a change of mentality for the companies as well as the universities and this is why its introduction is slow on both sides.
Among the already existing institutes at UPV are: the Instituto de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Cartografia, Instituto de Motores Termicos, Instituto de Tecnologia Electrica and Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica. Within the University Campus, the institutes are located in an area which will be called "Polytechnic City of Innovation" to stress its vocation to mobilise both the social, economic and industrial environment of the Valencian region as well as the university. In some cases institutes have been created in direct co-operation with private enterprises.
Universitat Politecnica De Valencia. Homepage of the University. Valencia, 1999. In Spanish. URL: < http://www.upv.es >
Universitat Politecnica De Valencia. Area de Programas Internacionales. Valencia, 1999. In Spanish. URL: < http://www.upv.es/API >
Universitat Politecnica De Valencia. CAMILLE - Computer Assisted Multimedia Interactive Language Learning Environment. Valencia, 1998. In Spanish. URL: < http://www.upv.es/camille >
CAMILLE, Multimedia Courses to learn SPANISH like a native. In Spanish. URL: < http://www.interactivespanish.com >
Universitat Politecnica De Valencia, Centro de Transferencia de Tecnologia. Web del Centro de Transferencia de Tecnologia. Valencia, 1999. In Spanish. URL: < http://www.ctt.upv.es >