Bachelor's degree in Global Studies
1.202,32€ (Price 2020-21 for EU students. All types
70 → 40 Students from European Union educational systems + 30 Students from educational systems of states not members of the European Union which have not signed international agreements.
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Acces and admission Global Studies (Pathway exclusive to students from outside the EU that hold an upper secondary education qualification)
- Admission
- Ponderacions matèries de Batxillerat (Generalitat de Catalunya)
This is a full-time study programme due to the high volume of practical work involved. In the first and second year are scheduled in the morning whereas in the third year lectures are scheduled in the morning or in the afternoon depending on the subjects.
From September to June
The language of instruction during the first two years will be in English. The optional subjects in the third year can be taken in English, Spanish, or Catalan, according to the courses offered by the faculties involved. It is advisable to have a B2 level of English at the beginning of the studies.
Language training includes three compulsory subjects in one foreign language, with a choice between Chinese, Arabic, Russian, French, or Spanish (only for international students) and taking a maximum of 18 credits.
Presentation
The degree course is intended for students from all over the world interested in understanding the cultural, economic, legal, environmental, political, social, and technological phenomena that affect us regardless of our precise geographical location, the understanding of which requires a transdisciplinary approach and a comprehensive view of human beings.
The academic, scientific, and professional interest of this course lies in five key factors. Firstly, the fact that there are more and more deeply important challenges and threats of a universal scope that can only be managed and/or resolved effectively if they are considered simultaneously and synchronously by the relevant actors at the local, national, regional, and global levels. Secondly, the conviction that the dimension and depth of these challenges and threats have helped to crystallize a truly global society for the first time in human evolution. Thirdly, and in line with the previous factors, the need for transdisciplinary and interprofessional programmes focused specifically on describing, explaining, analysing, and understanding the complex phenomenon of globalization and global problems. Fourthly, the inadequacy or limitations of some of the existing study programmes that, while echoing the importance of globalization, adopt a limited interdisciplinary focus or concentrate on only one of the dimensions of this new global reality, thus limiting both its understanding and students’ training for extracting the maximum benefits from its potential and advantages and for facing the challenges and threats that come with it. Lastly, the conviction that the solution of humanity’s global problems and challenges involves studying, understanding, and reconciling, from a humanistic perspective, the mentalities, ideologies, and particular visions of the world with which they are perceived locally in the planet’s different regions.
The degree in Global Studies at UPF is one of the two degrees existing in Europe and the only taught entirely in English in the first two courses.
Student profile
We recommend that the students who wish to access the degree in Global Studies have a minimum knowledge of mathematics, history, and geography, as well as a flair for written and oral communication and an ability to analyse, discuss, and dialogue. An interest in learning foreign languages is equally important, as well as creativity, imagination, innovation, and a passion for continuous learning.
Career prospects
According to the experience of countries where similar courses are already implemented at the degree level, the graduates of Global Studies can find work in a broad range of professional areas.
With cross-disciplinary and in-depth knowledge, analytical resources, language skills, and international experience, the future graduates will have multi-purpose training that will allow them to opt for positions and access distinguished and more and more in-demand posts in government administrations (local, regional, national, and international), diplomatic corps, cultural and educational institutions, the media, multinational companies, import and export firms, non-governmental organizations working in cooperation and development, political parties, private international authorities, international consultancy services, research organizations, think tanks, and environmental agencies.
Languages in programme
Third language accreditation
As a result of the publication of Law 2/2014, of 27 January, specifically article 211 on the accreditation of knowledge of a third language in the university sector, UPF has adopted an agreement in relation to all students beginning their degree studies in the year 2014-2015, whereby these students will have to demonstrate having reached level B2 competence in a third language in order to graduate.
Specifically, the Agreement of the UPF Board of Governors of July 2014 establishes the following:
1- Students taking official degree programmes organized by UPF will be able to demonstrate the competence level required in a foreign language via one of the following options:
- By passing the specific exams that are established for this purpose.
- By providing accreditation of language competence recognized as equivalent to the CEFR.
2- Accreditation of achievement of this level of competence in a foreign language will be indispensable for obtaining the graduate qualification.
3- It is established that this requirement will be incorporated into the syllabi of degree qualifications through the qualifications monitoring mechanism. The vice-rector for Teaching and Academic Planning is authorized to take the convenient measures for enforcing the content of this agreement, including its management before the Council of Universities, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Catalan government, and the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya).
In accordance with the legal regulations in force, and bearing in mind the second agreement of the Board of the Inter-University Council of Catalonia on the recognition of certificates and qualifications accrediting competence in foreign languages, UPF has provided updated information and guidance to students on the documentation for accrediting competence in third languages in order to guarantee the principles of accurate, accessible, and transparent information.
Language learning and use in the bachelor’s degree course
Due to its international nature, the degree in Global Studies is regarded as a space for the use and study of several languages. Plurilingual learning is a key element in the training of the future graduates. Moreover, the degree must combine the linguistic training needs of very different types of students, taking into consideration the diversity of their geographic origins.
The language of instruction during the first two years will be almost always English. The optional subjects in the third year can be taken in English, Spanish, or Catalan, according to the courses offered by the faculties involved. A minimum of subjects in Spanish and Catalan will be ensured so that foreign students who wish to do so can strengthen their command of these languages.
Language training includes three compulsory subjects in one foreign language, with a choice between Chinese, Arabic, Russian, French, or Spanish (only for international students) and taking a maximum of 18 credits. Starting from scratch (except in Spanish) and in accordance with the scales of the CEFR of the European Council (90-100 face-to-face hours for each level: A1, A2, B1, etc.), the students should reach level A2.1 or higher in Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or French and level B2.1 in Spanish in order to get a passing score on finishing the third subject. With some extra work in independent, online, and tutored learning, the students with the best grades could reach level A2 (B2 in the Spanish case).
These compulsory foreign language subjects are worth 6 credits each, recorded in table 5.1.3 in the third trimester of the first, second, and third years. Since we are dealing with language learning, continuous teaching throughout the year is the most effective approach. Therefore, the classes are distributed throughout the three trimesters, at two credits per trimester. This leaves the number of ECTS credits of the student at 20 for each trimester, though the final assessment is in the third trimester and, therefore, in table 5.1.3 the trimesters appear apparently unequal in the number of credits (18, 18, and 24 credits, respectively, which in terms of the student’s actual dedication can be considered 20, 20, and 20 credits).
In addition, there are optional subjects in German, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian, governed by the same criteria as the CEFR, as well as extracurricular Catalan language classes incentivized at a special price and currently already on offer for exchange students in UPF in general.
The stay abroad will provide many students with reinforcement in the foreign language chosen, in the same way that foreign students will learn Spanish and Catalan through immersion in local daily life in Barcelona. This can be further reinforced with the Languages UPF courses and with the language volunteering systems.
The objective of language learning in the degree in Global Studies is for the students to be able to cope proficiently or at the level of an experienced user in two of the six official languages of the UN (English and Spanish), and to acquire a basic user level (A2.1) in at least one of the other four languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, or Russian). Ideally, the future graduate of Global Studies should learn to understand and use at least four of these six world languages through the degree’s optional courses or by other means.
Benchmarks
The launching of degree and post-graduate programmes in Global Studies dates back to the end of the Twentieth Century and finds its epicentre in the Anglophone academic context (especially the United States), though this tendency has been spreading fast to other regions. Thus, after just a little over a decade, today there are degree courses in Global Studies available in over 240 universities and higher education institutions in the United States (including, among others, Yale University, UCLA, Indiana University, University of California-Santa Barbara, Texas State University, University of the Pacific, University of Illinois, University of Denver, University of Pittsburgh, and Warren Wilson College) and in over 25 universities in other North American countries (Wilfrid Laurier University or Vancouver Island University), Latin American countries (Nahual Institute for Global Studies), African countries (The American University in Cairo), Asian countries (Shanghai University, National University of Singapore, The University of Hong Kong, Hitotsubashi University, Akita International University, or Doshisha University), or in Oceania (Monash University, The University of Sydney, or University of Technology Sydney).
The European continent has not been an exception to this gradual expansion of programmes in Global Studies and we can identify at least thirty post-graduate options in prestigious universities (Humboldt University, University of Freiburg, Ghent University, University of London-SOAS, Moscow State University, The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Vienna, or the Norwegian University of Science and Technology). As indicated in the previous section, in the Spanish university context it is difficult to find degree or post-graduate examples for the degree in Global Studies proposed here.