Las competencias transversales en titulos de ingeniería y edificación: El caso de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT) = Transverse competences in engineering and building degrees: The case of the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT)

摘要

The competences acquired in the Spanish degrees for Master and Bachelor levels are classified into four types: basic, specific, general and transverse [1]. The basic competences are described in the royal decree RD 861/2010 [2]. These are the same for all the Spanish degrees of the same level. The specific and general competences are defined in the corresponding ministerial orders, to be acquired in degrees that qualify for the practice of regulated professions, as it is the case for most building and engineering degrees. In addition, the competences described in RD 1027/2011 of the MECES [3] are mandatory, although they are not included in the verification reports of the studies; these competences are similar to the basic ones and are also common for all degrees of the same level. Finally, the studies that are evaluated according to the program of International Quality Seals of ANECA, for obtaining the quality signature EUR-ACE?, must prove they also integrate the competences of the requested seal The transverse competences are not defined in the legislation and, in fact, it is possible to verify a degree without including competences of this type. However, the basic and MECES competences are mandatory and, as the transverse skills, are generic. To facilitate the distribution of basic, MECES and transverse competences among the syllabus of their different degrees, the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT) designed a set of seven transverse competences, each with three successive levels for Bachelor degrees, and an additional level for Master studies. These competences are directly related to the basic ones and those of the MECES. They also integrate the learning outcomes of the generic type of the EUR-ACE? seal. In order to define these competences, documents from different institutions [5] and the rankings of most demanded competences by companies were analyzed. The seven transverse competences are distributed among each syllabus in a centralized manner, so that all of them are sufficiently represented and evenly distributed. Every course in a syllabus develops a single transverse competence at a given level, in accordance with its best adequacy [6]. UPCT has developed educational materials to facilitate the integration of competences to teachers [7]. The competences and levels are defined in the form of learning outcomes, following recommendations from ANECA [8]. This paper presents the model of seven UPCT transverse competences, with their definitions and levels, and shows examples of distribution in different degrees. It also explains the relationships between transverse and basic competences, and how both types of competences are time-wise linked along a syllabus, so that their integration is coherent and feasible.