23 JUL 2018 - 13:40 CET

Students at the Complutense University can enrol in complementary training subjects in addition to their study plans. In particular, any student, whatever their grade, can also enrol in the subjects of 22 languages - not including English, French, Italian and German, but Russian, Polish, Chinese, Catalan or Basque, to name but a few - taught at the Faculty of Philology. A wide range of online computer courses is also available to all students enrolled in the course, enabling them to obtain a qualification as a specialist in digital skills. And also, for the first time this coming academic year -whose enrolment period is already open- anyone who wants to take one or more of the twenty-three subjects that the UCM has set in motion can do so in order to facilitate the acquisition of transversal skills by their students, independent of the degree they are taking. The offer of complementary training is completed by the possibility for humanities students to enrol in subjects of other degrees in the same area, which enables them - if they are also taking the Master's in Teacher Training - to teach these subjects in subsidised or private baccalaureate centres. Also, certain careers offer their new students "zero groups" in various subjects to reach an appropriate level before they begin their undergraduate studies.
With the exception of computer courses, which can be accessed directly from your website, it is possible to register for all of these options when you make the "self-registration". After choosing the subjects of their career, they will be able to access a wagon with these complementary training subjects. You can register as many additional training credits as you wish and this will be included in your file. Undergraduate students who wish to do so have the option of requesting the recognition of at least 6 ECTS of complementary training as part of the study plans of the degree they are studying.
Transversal subjects
This year's novelty is the subjects they teach in cross-curricular competitions. As the Vice-Rector for Studies, Pilar Herreros de Tejada, explains, "we can define transversal competences as those skills related to personal development that do not depend on a specific thematic or disciplinary area, but that appear in all areas of professional or academic performance". For the vice-rector, training in transversal skills is "positive and urgent". Although all UCM degrees guarantee that the student acquires all the skills required by Royal Decree 1393/2007, it is "convenient and necessary" to extend the transversal skills beyond those required by that Royal Decree. "In addition," says Herreros de Tejada, "we know from numerous studies that there is a clear relationship between personal and work satisfaction when one has developed certain transversal skills.
The offer of twenty-three transversal subjects launched this year by the UCM as a pilot programme is dedicated to competencies such as leadership, entrepreneurship, teamwork, time and stress management, negotiation and conflict management techniques, social skills in the workplace, oral and written communication skills, training in service-learning, gender, human rights... "In a very varied offer. Each subject grants 3 ECTS and has a presence of between 22.5 and 30 hours. They will be taught by teachers with very positive or excellent teacher evaluation. They are going to be very dynamic, very practical activities, in which the student will enjoy training himself", concludes the vice-rector Pilar Herreros de Tejada.
Twenty-two languages
But, in addition to this "transversal" training, as the Vice-Rector of Studies explains, the student can also acquire many other skills during his or her university years, in addition to completing a degree. "And that is what we have been trying to offer you for several years through this complementary training. For the last two years, any student has had access to the full range of languages offered by the Faculty of Philology. It's an offer that no other university has. It's really interesting," she continues, "because the training they receive will appear in their files. You can study at different levels Catalan, Basque, Polish, Romanian, Russian.... There are 22 languages, almost all of which may interest you, except English, French, German and Italian.
Becoming qualified as humanities teachers
For the last two academic years, students of Humanities and those enrolled in the Master's Degree in Teacher Training have also been able to study subjects of a higher level.