Skip to content

Competencies

The Degree in Optics and Optometry is a branch of the health sciences that prepares students to exercise as state-regulated opticians/optometrists. It is therefore subject to an agreement drafted by the Council of Ministers whereby curricula must fulfil certain conditions if they lead to qualifications that entitle graduates to exercise these professions.
 
The purpose of this degree course is to train students so that they acquire the competencies required to exercise as opticians/optometrists, as provided for in the following legal framework:

 
The EUOOT’s Senate defined the desired graduate profile. According to this profile, graduates must be able to:

 

  1. Apply the scientific knowledge required to exercise as professionals.
  2. Perform healthcare and health and safety activities related to eye health.
  3. Examine the visual system to assess its state and functionality.
  4. Recommend, provide and monitor suitable solutions for optimising visual functions by:
         3a.- Adapting all types of glasses and visual aids. 
         3b.- Adapting all types of contact lenses. 
         3c.-Performing eye treatment and low vision rehabilitation.
 
The UPC has also recommended that a number of generic (or transferable) competencies be adopted for all degree courses. The document A Framework for the Design of Degree Curricula, approved by the UPC’s Governing Council, set out the generic competencies that students must have attained by the time they complete any degree course taught at the UPC. They are as follows:
 
  •  T1.- Ethical, social and sustainability commitment. Graduates must be aware of and understand the complexity of the typical economic and social phenomena of the welfare state; they must be able to acknowledge the relevance of globalisation and sustainability; and they must acquire the skills for applying techniques, technology, the economy and sustainability in a balanced and compatible way.
  •  T2.- Effective spoken and written language skills In Catalan, Spanish and English. Graduates must be able to express the results of their learning, thought and decision-making processes orally and in writing to other people; and they must be able to take part in debates inherent to their field of specialisation.
  •  T3.- Teamwork. Graduates must be able to work in interdisciplinary teams, whether as regular team members or as project managers. The ultimate aim should be to contribute to the development of pragmatic projects that are responsibly run in that commitments are made depending on the resources available.
  •  T4.- Working autonomously and taking initiatives. Graduates should be able to recognise any gaps in their knowledge and address this failing through critical reflection and by choosing the best path to broaden their knowledge.
  •  T5.- The effective use of information resources. Graduates should be able to manage the way in which they obtain, arrange, analyse and display data and information in their field of specialisation and to objectively assess the results of this management.
  • T6.- Third language. Graduates should have a grasp of a third language, preferably English, to an acceptable spoken and written level in accordance with their future needs.
  •  T7.- Entrepreneurship and innovation. Graduates should have a clear understanding of how businesses are run and the sciences that define their activities. They should be familiar with labour laws and the relationships between planning, industrial and sales strategies, quality and profits.
 
 
The depth to which some of these generic competencies are explored will depend on the course scheme chosen (face-to-face/blended). For instance, face-to-face learners will concentrate more on teamwork (T3), whilst students on a blended scheme will place greater emphasis on working autonomously and taking initiatives (T4). This difference will be marked by the various methodologies used on the two schemes taught and will only have a slight effect on graduate profiles.