Esther Lanaspa Pérez is project manager, start-up coach and Biology student, Biodiversity, ecology and evolution branch
What can you learn from university studies in Montreal?
They offer great flexibility and promote autonomy
The flexibility of the programs of the Montreal faculties is obvious. The compulsory common trunk is reduced and allows students to choose specialization tracks and options from the second year. Several universities offer a double degree, often in different faculties. And they even impose choosing at least one optional subject in another faculty. This operation, which may seem disorganized and confusing, is a way of involving the student in their studies and their future. The students have advisors to accompany them in their choices, but the exchange between peers is the best way to build their career.
Studies are paid by subject and students have the right to waive an option without cost or mention in the academic dossier. In addition, the practices in a company or in a laboratory are not only compulsory, but the teachers are involved in their follow-up. Added to this is the modularity that allows you to combine studies and work. Young Canadians benefit from a culture that prepares them to choose and to accept failure; In short, to be adults.
How could you move to Barcelona?
Barcelona universities could adapt their study plans.
Traditional European education values the base of general culture, which entails instilling a robust common core, which can become a long and heavy course of three years of compulsory subjects. They should bet on empowering students and giving them more choice in their programs. The creation of double diplomas is a first step in recognizing the diversity of individual profiles, although the way of presenting them often prejudges a precise work objective and not the intellectual curiosity of the student. University programs could be rethought to introduce modularity, with specialization pathways and electives earlier.
The idea is not to open all the possibilities, you can maintain a common thread with blocks of options. The fact of reimbursing the student if he changes his mind may seem commercial, but it forces him to get involved in the matter. And it opens up the possibility of error. As students evaluate the content of the courses and the reputation of the teacher, this leads to a judgment of the quality of teaching. It is a risk that must be accepted and managed to allow each one to choose their own path.
