The move online and the opportunity to study part-time help students as they prepare for their professional careers

For some time now the URV has been committed to introducing online teaching to its master’s degrees, with the result that it now offers 10 master’s degrees that can be studied entirely online and a further 17 that offer a blend of online and face-to-face study. Now, however, the University is taking further action to respond to the uncertainty surrounding the beginning of the new academic year, which means that future students will have greater freedom to choose when and how they wish to study.

Consequently, in addition to the 10 online master’s degrees, a further 14 will be adapted so that they can be studied from a distance, at least during the first semester of the 2020-21 academic year. This amounts to nearly half of the 54 master’s degrees currently offered by the URV, in addition to 8 others that are taught in a blended format.

Measures to facilitate the specialization of bachelor’s degree students and professionals

The move to teaching online is one of the measures being adopted by the URV to make its courses more flexible and to facilitate training for bachelor’s degree students and professionals who are looking for an official qualification that prepares them for the job market or for academic study. But it is not the only one; students can also study a master’s degree part-time and are thus better able to ensure a healthy balance between their studies, their work and their personal and family responsibilities. To do this, students need to register for a minimum of 18 ECTS credits in face-to-face format and for 12 ECTS credits online.

Furthermore, to facilitate access to specialisation in the current complex situation, future students will not have to pay the reservation fee for their place on the course when they pre-register for master’s degree for the 2020-21 academic year. This means that any individual who has completed their undergraduate studies can now pre-register for a master’s course, as can students in the final year of their bachelor’s degrees, who will have obtained their qualifications by the time they register.

Master’s degrees with the first semester taught online

The classroom-based master’s courses that are to be taught entirely online in the first semester are the master’s degrees in Fermented Drinks; Management of Technology Companies; and Nutrition and Metabolism. Also, for the master’s degrees in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and Synthesis, Catalysis and Molecular Design, students can choose whether they want to study the first semester online or face-to-face.

Blended master’s degrees with the first semester online

Of the 17 blended master’s degrees, 4 already offer the first semester entirely online (Strategic Communication; Tourist Destination Management; Planning, Governance and Territorial Leadership, and Systems and Technologies for Energy Conversion). To these will be added the master’s degrees in Medical Anthropology and Global Health; and Professional Translation between English and Spanish. Furthermore, 3 other master’s courses allow students to choose if they want to study the first semester online or in a blended format: these are the master’s degrees in Urban Anthropology, Migrations and Social Intervention; Teaching and Learning of English as a Foreign/Second Language; Innovation in Social and Educational Intervention.

10 master’s degrees taught completely online

The master’s degrees offered entirely online are in Environmental Law; Computational Engineering and Mathematics; Medieval European Identity; Computational Fluid Mechanics; and Educational Technology: e-Learning and Knowledge Management. A further 4 offer students the option of completely online study or blended learning, these being the master’s courses in Company and Contract Law; Computer Security Engineering and Artificial Intelligence; Women, Gender and Citizenship Studies; Research into Nursing Sciences; and Public Administration Law.

All the information regarding the URV’s master’s courses, pre-registration, grants and awards, and international mobility options can be found at www.urv.cat/masters.