As was the case in previous years, the Innovation and Teaching Quality Team of the UPF School of Engineering and DTIC has conducted a study on last year’s graduates in the different ICT engineering degrees (class 2015-2019).

The distribution of respondents by degree has been proportional to the number of students in each degree. Thus, the distribution has been as follows: 28% for the bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, 40% for the bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering and 32% for the bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering. Regarding gender, 83% of the respondents were men, and 17% of them were women.

The respondents’ average age was 23.9 years, and 80% of them were working when the data were collected, performing tasks related to programming/consulting (31.82%) and mobile applications (10.6%), among others. In earlier editions of the study, the tasks were more frequently related to programming (please find the summaries of previous editions in the news section of this web).

Out of 25 answers, 80% of the respondents said that they had been working throughout their degree, yet not during all the years, while 4% of them said they did work throughout all the degree. When asked to what extent the job they took during their degree was related to their formation, the answer was quite clear: almost 82% of them said that their job was related to the degree — they were either working in private companies in the ICT field, either taking internships at the UPF or somewhere else.

Regarding the competencies that the graduates perceive as more integrated and achieved, the following were highlighted: “teamwork skills” and “capacity to self-organize and planning”, both rated 4.36/5 on average. The mode was 5/5 in both cases.

The survey also includes a list of academic and organization items, which the respondents rated depending on their level of satisfaction. This year, the best-rated items have been the following ones: “Taking subjects taught in English has proved a positive experience.”, “The TFG (final year dissertation) allowed me to develop competencies in an integrated way” and “Poblenou Campus provided me with the resources I needed (venues, computing equipment, etc.) to pursue my degree satisfactorily”. The average rates for these three items were 4.6/5, 4.08/5 and 4.04/5, respectively.

Some strengths that the students highlighted of their formation were problem-solving, their English level, self-management, teamwork, self-learning and organization. Among the specific competencies, they highlighted proficiency in ICT, the wide variety of elective courses and deep insight into business knowledge. Last, they highlighted other elements such as the capacity of resilience, internships, good teachers, the ERASMUS experience, the supervisions, the optional subjects, and the university venues and services.

Regarding the activities that the respondents have taken part in during their degree, ERASMUS and the internships are the highest rated ones, rated on average 4.33/5 and 4.25/5, respectively.

Finally, concerning professional prospects within two years, 60% (15) of the respondents imagined themselves working in a private company, 16% of them (4) starting or working in their own business, and 16% of them (4) pursuing further education.