This degree substitutes the University Master’s Degree in Advanced Chemistry, requested back then by the consortium of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the University of Vigo (UVigo).
This previous Master’s Degree was designed in 2006 according to the Royal Decree 56/2005 as a year degree (60 ECTS), with the goal of educate in advanced and updated topics in Chemistry, mostly with the graduated students in Chemistry or from other Bachelor’s Degrees interested in increase their academic and technical training, to enable them to start a professional career which requires a specialisation in Chemistry in fields as chemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, new materials production, agrifood industries; environmental control and study, quality analyse and control, fito and biosanitary and in the field of renewable energies. The Master’s Degrees also had an strong researcher profile and accessed to the PhD Programme in Chemical Science and Technology, which was also taught by both universities. In the original proposal, this Master’s Degree in Advanced Chemistry was integrated in the so called Official Post Degree in Chemical Science and Technology, but, after its adaptation to the Royal Decree 1393/2007 these two degrees turned into independent and simplified degrees.
All in all, something detected from the beginning of the previous Master’s Degree was the low degree of interaction with the professional and industrial world, shown by the big amount of student who, once finished the Master’s Degree, decided to study the PhD Programme. This, without being negative, evidences the strong research approach of the results of the academic offer. In addition, the adaptation of the five-year degree in Chemistry into the Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry meant, among others, a significant reduction in the advanced contents, which used to be taught on the 5th year. This last point affects specially all the level reached in each university regarding the development of each of competences.
These two relevant reasons guided us to reform the previous Master’s Degree in Advanced Chemistry on the following modifications:
- Adapt the level of Master’s Degree to the Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, and unify the level of students, guaranteeing the success in the acquisition of the specific competences of the degree.
- Partially reduce the offer of advanced Master’s Degrees studies. The excessive subjects offer in the previous version of the Master’s Degree often produced contents repetition and made this very difficult to avoid due to the very different distribution of students in these subjects. With a smaller offer, students are more grouped and the coordination between teaching staff is more efficient.
- Include in the study offer classes with a clear professional profile, as well as the possibility of perform internships in the industry, to cover the demand from students with interests in the industrial field.
In this way, the scientific and professional interest of the Master’s Degree is guaranteed, given the relevance of its specific goals, which continue being the following:
a) Complete the education of the student in the advanced fields of Chemistry.
b) Prepare him/her to develop research tasks, development and innovation in Chemistry, not only in the academic field but also in the industrial.
c) Provide knowledge in the fields of professions related with research and with other activities external to it which set the activity at a corporate level.
d) Contribute to their education in a practical way, providing the possibility of developing specific tasks related with the activity of companies or the University.
This Master’s Degree is a versatile degree structured towards a research and a professionalising approaches. First approach has the goal of being an educational tool for a later PhD thesis in the Chemistry field. Second approach intends to complement the educational training of the Bachelor’s Degree with an specialised knowledge in Chemistry and Industrial Economy, which provides a privileged access to the labour market in the field of Chemical industry.
The research orientation has a generalist formulation similar to the Master Degree’s in Chemistry in Spain and worldwide, being in fact very common and with a long tradition in the European and American levels. These are, in addition, degrees which usually rely on the best quality and efficiency indicators.
At an European level, it is usual to organise generic advanced studies with a pre-PhD profile in Chemistry, which coexist with other specialised in advanced fields. All in all, in many referent European universities, the researcher profile is developed together with the one directed towards the chemical industry, for example in the University of Pierre e Marie Curie in Pari and the Free University of Berlin, among others. Something similar happens with the planning of other German universities. This Universities usually offer a generically named Master’s Degree for all the experimental sciences which are defined in specialised studies in Chemistry with ECTS subjects, contents, descriptors and objectives similar to the ones provided here.
In the USA there are 178 degrees offered by the generic name of Master’s Degree in Chemistry and the referential universities regarding quality of their studies as Harvard, California Institute of Technology or a University of Yale offer them. In this field the studies profile tends to focus on the previous education for the PhD programmes, but also on specialities or itineraries with a professional profile.
In Spain, the situation is similar. A relevant referent for our Master’s Degree is the Master’s Degree in Chemical Industry and Initiation to Scientific Research shortly implemented in the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Our formulation in the Master’s Degree for the module of Initiation to Scientific Research and Professional Practice is visible similar to the solution brought by the UAB for a practical education for students in research laboratories or in the chemical industry.
In addition to this, there are a number of Master’s Degrees in Chemistry with a professionalising approach. The following are specially relevant:
- Master’s Degree in Synthetic and Industrial Chemistry, offered by the University of the Basque Country
- Official Master’s Degree in Chemistry and Industry, offered by the University of Rovira e Virgili
- University Master’s Degree in Chemistry Applied to Research and Industry, offered by the University of Navarra
Internal consult procedures description
The first stage in the drafting of the study plan of the Master’s Degree consisted in the creating of a Drafter Committee, constituted by the representatives of the three Faculties of Chemistry participant, as well as the president-Dean of the Official School of Chemists in Galicia. This Committee, chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry of the USC back then, started a series of meetings in which the proposal for this master’s degree was created, in continuous interaction with the dean teams of the Faculty of Chemistry of Vigo and the Faculty of Science of Coruña, as well as the Chemistry Departments from the three universities.
The following informational elements were used in addition:
- Surveys for teaching staff and students of the Master’s Degree in Advanced Chemistry which is going to be substituted by the requested Master’s Degree.
- Suggestions for improvement made by the Faculty of Chemistry Internal Quality Guarantee System Committee of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
It was also consulted the Counselling Committee of the USC Faculty of Chemistry. Most of the Committee, as well as this centres and departments, considered very convenient to propose a Master’s Degree like this one, in order to ease the incorporation of part of the Master’s Degree students to the industrial field, while those looking for a research career will also find in this Master’s Degree a education adequate for their needs. In addition to this, the Master’s Degree proposal was subjected in the three universities to the approval institutional processes for passing study plans, including:
- Public presentation according to the general protocols established to create new degrees.
- Approval in the different governing boards.
- Approval in the different social boards.
External consult procedures description
In addition, to draft the Master’s Degrees were taking into account the following contributions:
- Recommendations of the Conference of Faculty of Chemistry Deans.
- Suggestions received from the companies and institutions with which specific collaboration agreements have been signed.
- Active participation of the Official School of Chemists in the Master’s Degree draft.
The inclusion of a professionalising orientation was specially supported by the companies and external professionals consulted by the Official School of Chemists of Galicia, who show their total availability to collaborate in the teaching of subjects from this specialisation, as well as in the offering of places in their facilities to welcome students in the professional internships and in the MDFP.