Training project management complexity in postgraduate and continuing education programs: a learning strategy in the eshe (European Space of Higher Education) framework

The objective of this paper is to address the methodological process of a teaching strategy for training project management complexity in postgraduate programs. The proposal is made up of different methods —intuitive, comparative, deductive, case study, problem-solving Project-Based Learning— and different activities inside and outside the classroom. This integration of methods motivated the current use of the concept of “learning strategy”. The strategy has two phases: firstly, the integration of the competences —technical, behavioral and contextual—in real projects; and secondly, the learning activity was oriented in upper level of knowledge, the evaluating the complexity for projects management in real situations. Both the competences in the learning strategy and the Project Complexity Evaluation are based on the ICB of IPMA. The learning strategy is applied in an international Postgraduate Program —Erasmus Mundus Master of Science— with the participation of five Universities of the European Union. This master program is fruit of a cooperative experience from one Educative Innovation Group of the UPM -GIE-Project-, two Research Groups of the UPM and the collaboration with other external agents to the university. Some reflections on the experience and the main success factors in the learning strategy were presented in the paper

Training project management complexity in postgraduate and continuing education programs: a learning strategy in the eshe (European Space of Higher Education) framework

The objective of this paper is to address the methodological process of a teaching strategy for training project management complexity in postgraduate programs. The proposal is made up of different methods —intuitive, comparative, deductive, case study, problem-solving Project-Based Learning— and different activities inside and outside the classroom. This integration of methods motivated the current use of the concept of ―learning strategy‖. The strategy has two phases: firstly, the integration of the competences —technical, behavioral and contextual—in real projects; and secondly, the learning activity was oriented in upper level of knowledge, the evaluating the complexity for projects management in real situations. Both the competences in the learning strategy and the Project Complexity Evaluation are based on the ICB of IPMA. The learning strategy is applied in an international Postgraduate Program —Erasmus Mundus Master of Science— with the participation of five Universities of the European Union. This master program is fruit of a cooperative experience from one Educative Innovation Group of the UPM -GIE-Project-, two Research Groups of the UPM and the collaboration with other external agents to the university. Some reflections on the experience and the main success factors in the learning strategy were presented in the paper.

Motivating Young Students to Start a Career in Nuclear: The Basic Course of Science and Nuclear Technology, An Educational Activity of Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear (JÓVENES NUCLEARES)

The main objective of this course, conducted by Jóvenes Nucleares (Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear, JJNN), a non-profit organization that depends on the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE) is to pass on basic knowledge about Science and Nuclear Technology to the general public, mostly students and introduce them to its most relevant points. The purposes of this course are to provide general information, to answer the most common questions about Nuclear Energy and to motivate the young students to start a career in nuclear. Therefore, it is directed mainly to high school and university students, but also to general people that wants to learn about the key issues of such an important matter in our society. Anybody could attend the course, as no specific scientific education is required. The course is done at least once a year, during the Annual Meeting of the Spanish Nuclear Society, which takes place in a different Spanish city each time. The course is done also to whichever university or institution that asks for it to JJNN, with the only limit of the presenter´s availability. The course is divided into the following chapters: Physical nuclear and radiation principles, Nuclear power plants, Nuclear safety, Nuclear fuel, Radioactive waste, Decommission of nuclear facilities, Future nuclear power plants, Other uses of nuclear technology, Nuclear energy, climate change and sustainable development. The course is divided into 15 minutes lessons on the above topics, imparted by young professionals, experts in the field that belongs either to the Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear, either to companies and institutions related with nuclear energy. At the end of the course, a 200 pages book with the contents of the course is handed to every member of the audience. This book is also distributed in other course editions at high schools and universities in order to promote the scientific dissemination of the Nuclear Technology. As an extra motivation, JJNN delivers a course certificate to the assistants. At the end of the last edition course, in Santiago de Compostela, the assistants were asked to provide a feedback about it. Some really interesting lessons were learned, that will be very useful to improve next editions of the course. As a general conclusion of the courses it can be said that many of the students that have assisted to the course have increased their motivation in the nuclear field, and hopefully it will help the young talents to choose the nuclear field to develop their careers

A comparative analysis of ABE Bachelor of Science programs in European and US Universities.

European Universities are involved in series of great changes regarding teaching and education organization during the last few years. The origin of these changes is the creation of the so-called European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which main target is to harmonize the different University studies throughout Europe. As a consequence, most of the programs of studies in all degrees are suffering changes in order to converge to common structures. Taking advantage of the actual process, some European universities are moving from traditional Agricultural Engineering programs to a more wide discipline named recently as Biosystems Engineering, which is a science- based engineering discipline that integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental and agricultural sciences, broadening in this way the area of application of Engineering sciences not strictly to agricultural sciences, but to the biologic al sciences in general, including the agricultural sciences. This paper presents a comparative study of different Bachelor of Science degrees offered by American and European Universities in the field of Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering. To carry out the analysis 40 programs accredited by ABET in American Universities and 50 European programs. Among other questions, the total number of credits, the number of semesters, the kind of modules and the distribution of subjects in groups (Basic Sciences, Engineering Fundamentals, Agricultural/Biological Sciences, Humanities & Economic Sciences, Applied Agricultural/Biological Engineering and electives) are discussed in the paper. The information provided can be an useful starting point in future definitions of new or renewed degrees with the aim of advancing in internationalization of the programs and helping student’s mobility.

Health and safety in the construction : subject pending to be included in the curriculum of architecture in Spain

The art of construction is a risky activity that directly affects the life and physical integrity of persons. Since the approval of Law 31/1995, of November 8, Prevention of Occupational Risks was the first legislation that established the current basis in all sectors and then transposed into Spanish law Directive 92/57/CEE called Royal Decree 1627/1997 of October 24, on minimum safety and health dispositions in construction works, measures have been proposed to develop a mixed body of scientific literature composed of researchers and professionals in the field of occupational safety and health, but even today there is still no clear and firm proposal, showing a lack of awareness in the occupational risk prevention and, therefore, a consolidation of the culture of prevention in society. Therefore, the technicians, who make up the building process, can incur in very high responsibilities, such as: Author of the project, Coordinator of Safety and Health during the preparation of the project and during the execution of works, Site Management: Site Manager. This involves the immediate creation of a general training in prevention for all architects starting when still studying, as well as specific training, appropriate and complementary to all the architects that will be devoted to the specialty of occupational safety and health in construction works. That is, first, we must make the responsible bodies aware of the urgent need to integrate risk prevention in the curricula of architecture and later in the continuing education of the profession. It is necessary that our teaching must conform to the laws on safety and health, due to the fact that the law recognizes our academic degrees and professional qualifications to perform functions in that area

Análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones científicas colombianas en la categoría Engineering, Multidisciplinary en la base de datos del Web of Science (1997-2009)

El trabajo ha caracterizado el área de Engineering, Multidisciplinary en Colombia, revisándose a nivel institucional a través de la base de datos Web of Science, los trabajos realizados por investigadores en universidades colombianas, y publicados en revistas internacionales con factor de impacto entre 1997 y 2009. En el contexto de América Latina se han publicado 2, 195 trabajos del tipo artículo o revisión en 83 revistas, y a nivel de Colombia se han encontrado 419 artículos publicados en 23 revistas. También se han analizado las Universidades mediante indicadores bibliométricos (Factor de Impacto Ponderado y Relativo y el número medio de citas por documento), encontrándose toda la producción científica localizada en 37 Universidades y destacando la Universidad Nacional de Colombia por el número de documentos, la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana por la ratio citas frente a documentos, y la Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia por el Factor de Impacto.

Análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones científicas mexicanas en la categoría de Engineering, Chemical en la base de datos del Web of Science (1997-2008)

El proposito del trabajo ha sido caracterizar el área de Ingeniería Química en México. Para ello, se ha revisado a nivel institucional, a través de la base de datos Web of Science (WoS), los trabajos sobre Ingeniería Química realizados por investigadores en Instituciones mexicanas y publicados en revistas internacionales con factor de impacto entre 1997 y 2008. Se ha partido del contexto de América Latina, donde se han publicado 6,183 trabajos del tipo artículo o revisión en 119 revistas, y a nivel de México se han encontrado 1,302 artículos publicados en 87 revistas la mayoría en inglés (96.08%), pero también en español (3.69%) y en francés (0.23%). Por otro lado, se han analizado las Universidades y Centros de Investigación desde el punto de vista cuantitativo y cualitativo mediante diversos indicadores bibliométricos como el Factor de Impacto Ponderado, el Factor de Impacto Relativo y la relación entre el número de citas y el número de documentos, encontrándose que de entre las cinco instituciones más productivas destaca el Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo por el número de documentos y la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México por la relación citas frente a documentos, y por el Factor de Impacto Ponderado.

Análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones científicas españolas en la categoría Construction & Building Technology de la base de datos Web of Science (1997-2008)

En este trabajo se analizan las publicaciones procedentes de instituciones españolas recogidas en las revistas de la categoría Construction & Building Technology de la base de datos Web of Science para el periodo 1997-2008. El número de revistas incluidas es de 35 y el número de artículos publicados ha sido de 760 (Article o Review). Se ha realizado una evaluación bibliométrica con dos nuevos parámetros: Factor de Impacto Ponderado y Factor de Impacto Relativo; asimismo se incluyen el número de citas y el número de documentos a nivel institucional. Entre los centros con una mayor producción científica destaca, como era de prever, el Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja (CSIC), mientras que atendiendo al Factor de Impacto Ponderado ocupa el primer lugar la Universidad de Vigo. Por otro lado, sólo dos revistas Cement and Concrete Research y Materiales de Construcción aglutinan el 45.26% de toda la producción científica española, con 172 trabajos cada una de ellas. En cuanto a la colaboración internacional, destacan países como Inglaterra, México, Estados Unidos, Italia, Argentina y Francia

Análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones científicas uruguayas en la categoría Engineering, Chemical en la base de datos Web of Science (1997-2008)

El prop´osito del trabajo ha sido caracterizar el ´area de Ingenier´ıa Qu´ımica en M´exico. Para ello, se ha revisado a nivel institucional, a trav´es de la base de datos Web of Science (WoS), los trabajos sobre Ingenier´ıa Qu´ımica realizados por investigadores en Instituciones mexicanas y publicados en revistas internacionales con factor de impacto entre 1997 y 2008. Se ha partido del contexto de Am´erica Latina, donde se han publicado 6,183 trabajos del tipo art´ıculo o revisi´on en 119 revistas, y a nivel de M´exico se han encontrado 1,302 art´ıculos publicados en 87 revistas la mayor´ıa en ingl´es (96.08%), pero tambi´en en espa˜nol (3.69%) y en franc´es (0.23%). Por otro lado, se han analizado las Universidades y Centros de Investigaci´on desde el punto de vista cuantitativo y cualitativo mediante diversos indicadores bibliom´etricos como el Factor de Impacto Ponderado, el Factor de Impacto Relativo y la relaci´on entre el n´umero de citas y el n´umero de documentos, encontr´andose que de entre las cinco instituciones m´as productivas destaca el Instituto Mexicano del Petr´oleo por el n´umero de documentos y la Universidad Nacional Aut´onoma de M´exico por la relaci´on citas frente a documentos, y por el Factor de Impacto Ponderado

Análisis bibliométrico de las publicaciones científicas argentinas en la categoría Agriculture, Multidisciplinary en la base de datos del Web of Science (1997-2009)

El propósito del trabajo ha sido caracterizar el área de Agriculture, Multidisciplinary en Argentina, revisándose a nivel institucional, a través de la base de datos Web of Science, los trabajos realizados por investigadores en Instituciones argentinas y publicados en revistas internacionales con factor de impacto entre 1997 y 2009. En el contexto deAmérica Latina, se han publicado 7795 trabajos de todos los tipos documentales y 7622 del tipo artículo o revisión en 49 revistas, y a nivel de Argentina se han encontrado 531 artículos o revisiones publicados en 31 revistas, la mayoría en inglés (80,23%), pero también en español (15,25%) y en portugués (4,33%). Por otro lado, se han analizado las Instituciones desde el punto de vista cuantitativo y cualitativo mediante diversos indicadores bibliométricos, como el Factor de Impacto Ponderado, el Factor de Impacto Relativo y la ratio número de citas frente a número de documentos, encontrándose que entre las instituciones más productivas destacan el Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas por el número de documentos y el Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos por el Factor de Impacto Ponderado y por la ratio citas frente a documentos. Se observa una escasa colaboración internacional.