As a part of adapting university teaching to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), in the 2004-05 academic year the Law Faculty began offering instruction according to EHEA guidelines, thereby providing students with the competences and skills required to begin their professional careers in accordance with future degree programmes at all European universities.

Students who successfully meet all the proposed academic requirements will obtain, at the end of the first cycle, a UdG diploma recognized by the Government of Catalonia. (The official degree is granted after completing the fifth year.)

 

 

 

In addition to the normal subjects, and as part of the 27 free choice credits of the first cycle of law studies, students in the pilot programme will complete external practical modules and be involved in other activities calculated in ECTS credits and providing students with generic competences considered very important within European higher education such as public speaking, office suite proficiency, practical knowledge about the administration of justice, etc.
Students who were admitted for the 2005-06 academic year and who have taken the following subjects will be granted a UdG diploma.

First year
Subjects	Credits
Tools for the study of law	5
Seminar for strengthening generic competences related to ethical values	2
Second year
Subjects	Credits
Introduction to the Administration of Justice	1
Creating web pages with Front Page	1
Power Point as a presentation tool	1
Third year
Subjects	Crèdits
Legal English (minimum certified level: English 3 of the SLM)	3
External practicum in public institutions	3
Total guided free choice credits of the pilot programme	16

More information

This document provides additional information about the pilot tests for adaptation to the European Higher Education Area promoted by the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise (formerly DURSI) and in which the University of Girona participates:

• The primary aim of the pilot tests is to promote the changes the degree programmes will undergo in the near future. Experience with the programmes in the pilot tests has served as a first step towards adapting our University to meet future requirements of the European university system.

• For the moment these changes affect calculations of the weight of subjects based on the ECTS system and on the progressive introduction of new teaching methods aimed at more active student participation in the learning process.

• The University of Girona has proposed that eight of its degree programmes participate in the pilot tests. Although considered to be the UdG’s own degrees, they are complementary to the corresponding officially approved studies.

• That means students will be admitted to the officially approved studies and obtain the official degree in the same way and under the same conditions as now.

• In addition, students can obtain a UdG diploma recognised by the Government of Catalonia upon completion of the first three years of their official studies programme.

• New official degree programmes and new syllabuses of lengths different from the current ones will not be introduced.

• The current syllabuses of the programmes in the pilot test (officially approved by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science) will be adapted so that students who complete the first 180 ECTS credits will obtain, without being jeopardised in any way, a UdG diploma accredited by AQU Catalunya and recognised by the Government of Catalonia.

• If the current length of the programmes in the pilot test is three years (as is the case of the current diploma studies), students will simultaneously obtain an officially recognised degree and a UdG diploma. However, under current conditions, if the corresponding official studies are longer, students will have to complete them to obtain the official degree.

• As a result, students who were admitted in 2005-06 to the programmes in the pilot test have registered for the current officially recognised degree under the same academic and economic conditions, but the studies they complete respond to a format which is more transferable at the European level.

• ECTS credits are introduced in a progressive way, year by year, so as of the 2005-06 academic year only the first and second years of the programme had been adapted. Credits have been and will continue to be introduced progressively in each subsequent year.