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2022/2023

Work Placement

Code: 104275 ECTS Credits: 12
Degree Type Year Semester
2503710 Geography, Environmental Management and Spatial Planning OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
Joan Carles Llurdes Coit
Email:
joancarles.llurdes@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

Although mostly the usual language is usually Catalan, it will ultimately depend on the entity where practices are made that the most commonly used language is this or Spanish

Prerequisites

In order to be able to take the course, students must complete these requirements:

  1. For the course Pràctiques Externes/Prácticas Externas students must preregister according to a calendar that is made public every year. The calendar can be consulted at the following link (https://www.uab.cat/web/estudiar/grados/oferta-de-grados/informacion1345722453729.html). Failure to preregister results in the impossibility to register for the course Pràctiques Externes/Prácticas Externas. A student will only be assigned an internship position if they have preregistered within the established deadline.
  2. We must bear in mind, however, in the case that there is more demand for places of practice that offer available, a selection will be made based on the average grade of the students' academic record. Therefore, the pre-registration does not guarantee that the internship can finally be done.
  3. Other selection criteria can also be taken into account (e.g. possibility of relating the practices with the bachelor's degree final project).
  4. Students must enroll the subject, after checking the academic management of their inclusion in the list of students definitely admitted. Student must have an accident and civil liability insurance policy.
  5. A specific agreement must be signed for each student, or signatura of a resolution by the Dean of the faculty, in case the practices are carried out within the scope of the UAB (e.g. in groups of research).
  6. The student must have a digital signature (this greatly facilitates and speeds up the processing of the agreement).
  7. The student must have an updated CV.
  8. For other considerations, it will be necessary to refer to whatis indicated in the protocol of external practices of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities approved by the Academic Planning Committee (COA) of the Faculty on April 30, 2019.
Although it should not be considered a prerequisite, students are advised to be aware of the possibility that the internship may be incompatible with the follow-up of the face-to-face teaching scheduled for the course in question. In other words, teaching schedules make it difficult or even impossible to do the internship.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The purpose of this subject is to apply the skills acquired during the degree in a real professional environment in companies and institutions in the field of spatial planning, sustainability, environment and geography in general. Specifically the objectives of these practices are:

  1. To allow the student to apply and complement the knowledge, theoretical and practical, acquired throughout their academic training.
  2. To facilitate the knowledge of the work methodology appropriate to the professional reality in which the student will have to operate, contrasting and applying the acquired knowledge.
  3. To favor the acquisition of technical, methodological, personal and participatory competences that prepare the student for the exercise in some of the professional activities of Geography.
  4. To obtain practical experience that facilitates insertion into the labor market and improves future employability.
  5. To favor the values of innovation, creativity and social commitment.

Competences

  • Draw up action and intervention plans in the territory which respond to sociodemographic and environmental problems.
  • Introduce theoretical and applied aspects of the main regional, environmental and urban policies in professional practice.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Systematically analyse and interpret environmental, demographic, urban and landscape elements.
  • Use the scientific and professional language of the social sciences.
  • Work cooperatively in multidisciplinary teams.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify focuses and methods of regional analysis that are useful for an interdisciplinary team.
  2. Identify the main methods to respond to proposals during a task.
  3. Integrate knowledge acquired in interdisciplinary projects.
  4. Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  5. Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  6. Use the scientific and professional language of the social sciences.
  7. Work cooperatively in multidisciplinary teams.

Content

The external intership, when being oriented to the professional qualification of the student, it does not properly teach content strictu sensu, either in person or online. Its main objective is to carry out training activities related to career opportunities in Geography. Through external internships, the student should achieve, expand and apply their own knowledge of the contents of the subjects studied previously and that are related to many areas of Geography with:

  1. Territorial information technologies: Cartography and Geographic Information Systems.
  2. Regional planning at different scales.
  3. Environment and sustainability.
  4. Analysis, planning and management of the city, the territory and the landscape.
  5. The knowledge society: continuous education, editorial work, media dissemination and solidarity.
  6. Mobility.
  7. Meteorology.
  8. There is also the possibility of doing the external internship in a research group from the Department of Geography of the UAB (e.g. ICTA, IERMB, etc.).
A Moodle classroom will be opened where, in addition to publishing certain reference documents for the follow-up of the subject, it will also be the main space for communication between the studant and the coordinator of the subject.

Some of the companies and entities with which we have collaborated in recent years are these:
  1. Several City Councils.
  2. Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (Meteocat).
  3. El Temps (TV3).
  4. Taiko Meteorologia.
  5. Ingeniería Social.
  6. Landlab.
  7. Anthesis-Lavola.
  8. SolucionsGeogràfiques
  9. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA-UAB).
  10. Generalitat de Catalunya (Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat).
  11. Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt.
  12. Parc Natural del Garraf.
  13. Parc Natural Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa.
  14. Parc Natural de Collserola.
  15. Consorci d'Espais d'Interès Natural del Ripollès.
  16. Simbiosy.
  17. Espai TReS.
  18. Intra SL.
  19. Observatori del Paisatge.
  20. GPM Consultors
  21. Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona.
  22. Barcelona Regional.
  23. Institut d'Estudis Regionals i Metropolitans de Barcelona (IERMB).
  24. Grup de Recerca de Geografia i Gènere (Departament Geografia UAB).
  25. Grup de Recerca en Àrees de Muntanya i Paisatge (GRAMP) (Departament de Geografia UAB).
  26. Cos de Bombers, Generalitat de Catalunya.
  27. Vaic Mobility.
  28. Associació per a la Defensa i Estudi de la Natura de Catalunya (ADENC).
  29. Sistemas Medioambientales.
  30. Camí General.
  31. Aigües de Manresa.
  32. Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED).
  33. Unitat de Planificació i Gestió de la Mobilitat de la UAB.

Methodology

The contents of the subject will be developed through the formalization, for each student, of a specific agreement of educational cooperation for the realization of practices where they establish these points:
  1. The identifying data of the collaborating entity and the student.
  2. The data of the training project, with indication also of the period (date of beginning and end of the external intership) and schedule (daily and weekly).
  3. The motivation of the student. The purpose of the internship.
  4. The competences that the student must have at the end of the external internship.
  5. Tasks to be performed by the student.
  6. The follow-up procedure by the tutor designated by the collaborating entity.
  7. The agreement must be signed by all three parties: entity, Dean of the Faculty and student and priority will be given to all three being digital. The Faculty does not allow agreements with manual and digital signatures at the same time.
ATTENTION (1): there will be an information meeting at the beginning of each semester to explain in more detail the content of the internship subject. Attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended and it is necessary to anticipate the possibility that this meeting will be online.
ATTENTION (2): It is necessary to foresee the possibility that the practices have to do telematics, partly. Under no circumstances will specific agreements be accepted that provide for online internships in their entirety.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Supervised      
Follow-up (face-to-face or virtual tutorials), informational meetings 10 0.4 1
Monitoring reports (2) and final report 10 0.4 3
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous work according to instructions of the tutor of the collaborating entity 280 11.2 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 7, 6

Assessment

In addition to the previous one, the following should be taken into account:

  1. "Not assessable": grade that it will be assigned to the student who has not done a 10% of the hours prescribed in the agreement.
  2. "F (fail)": grade that the student will be assigned that after having passed this 10% attendance, he has not completed the hours prescribed in the agreement, or it is negatively evaluated by the tutor of the entity.
  3. No "Matrícula d’Honor" grade is awarded due to the optional nature of this grade and the heterogeneity of this subject in the different degrees taught in the Faculty.
  4. The external intership can not be recovered. The course Pràctiques Externes cannot be reassessed in the event that the student fails.

ATTENTION (1): as part of the training activities specified in the assessment for the Pràctiques Externes, students must fulfil these two requirements:

  1. Have attended at least one 1 of the group professional orientation courses organised by the Servei d’Ocupabilitat de la UAB and show proof of attendance by adjoining the certificate to the final report.
  2. Have taken the questionnaire Professional Competences Test offered by the Servei d’Ocupabilitat de la UAB. The result of the test can be downloaded and attached to the final report.

ATTENTION (2): although in this subject it does not make much sense, just in case and in accordance with current regulations, about the PLAGIARISM, in the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade forthis subject.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Courses, skills test 10% 0 0 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 7, 6
Monitoring reports (2) and final report 30% 0 0 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 7, 6
Report of the collaborating entity 60% 0 0 2, 3, 7

Bibliography

Here are some links to organizations that regularly offer courses or organize activities with a professional nature:
  1. Servei d'Ocupabilitat de la UAB (Treball Campus) --> https://www.uab.cat/web/servei-d-ocupabilitat-de-la-uab-1345704838572.html
  2. Odisseu --> http://www.odisseujove.cat/
  3. Col·legi de Geògrafs --> https://geografs.org
  4. Societat Catalana de Geografia --> http://scg.iec.cat
  5. Barcelona Activa --> https://www.barcelonactiva.cat/
  6. Asociación Española de Geografía --> https://www.age-geografia.es/site/
  7. EGEA --> https://egea.eu/

Software

Depending on the entity where the internship ends, students have to demostrate a certain mastery o fsome tools and software, from the most common and of general use to more specific ones with which they usually works. After knowing what the collaborating entity offers (i.e. Microsoft office, ArcGis, QGIS, etc), the student must be convinced that he / she will be able to do the internship without any inconvenience regarding this issue.