Abstract:

University has as a main objective preparing students for their future careers and supporting their personal development. However, in Spain it is found that, in general, the scientific and technical studies do not give enough relevance to practical learning. The contents of these studies are mainly theoretical and far from the Research and Development (R&D) activities.

This lack of practical training hinders on the one hand, the formation of students specialized in scientific and technical areas, like the ones related to the field of materials science and technology, and on the other hand, the preparation of the students for their future professional careers.

In order to overcome the mentioned absences an innovative programme has been developed at the University of Valladolid. The main goals of this program are to train specialists in the field of science and technology of materials and to introduce students into real R&D activities. Thereby, the integration of students into their professional careers is facilitated as they are able to develop new and specific skills.

In this communication the training route followed by the programme, from the early stages to the specialization, is described. In this programme, different subjects from the Physics Degree (Materials Physics, Solid State Physics and Final Degree Project) and from the Master in Nanoscience and Molecular Nanotechnology (Final Master Project) are involved. Moreover, this programme concludes with the development of a Ph.D. Thesis (Ph.D. in Physics) in the Cellular Materials Laboratory (CellMat) of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Valladolid.

The effectiveness of this initiative is analysed taking into account the subsequent industrial progress of the students implied in this innovative programme.