DEVELOPING JOINT MASTER PROGRAMMES AMONSGT UNIVERSITIES: CHALLENGES AND PITFALLS OF TWO CASE STUDIES ON THERMODYNAMICS AND THERMAL ENGINEERING MASTERS

The development of a European Space for Higher Education widely known as the Bologna Process is being promoted. The main objectives of the process are the convergence of higher European education, the recognition and quality of studies, and the improvement of international competitiveness in the European educational system. The development of joint degrees and master programmes have an intrinsic link with all of the goals of the Bologna Process because it encourages a close collaboration among different Universities. Moreover, in today’s world, where new technologies emerge and advance at a very fast pace every year, the education at the master level is becoming more and more important. The implementation of joint master programmes requires the solution of several difficulties generated by the heterogeneity of Universities, the diversity of students and distance learning concerns.
Within this context, the University of Burgos has participated in two initiatives of joint Master programmes with other Spanish Universities. Both of them are research oriented programmes, with the aim of preparing graduate students to become advanced researchers in the field of energy efficiency, but in two different profiles. The first programme is a Master on Engineering Thermodynamics of Fluids, developed with the Universities of Valladolid, Rovira i Virgili, and Santiago de Compostela. This Master is mostly devoted to chemical thermodynamics engineering research, and intends to develop strong experimental and theoretical skills for those who would be acquainted researchers in the chemical and energy engineering processes field. The second is a Master on Thermal Engineering, and its aims are more oriented to energy efficiency analysis of buildings and energy generation from renewable sources. This Master, organized with the Universities of Vigo, and Basque Country, is oriented to energy design engineers. An analysis of challenges and pitfalls of both masters is presented, based on the experience of two previous years. Factors of influence such as University’s size and structure, admission criteria, structure of the programmes of contents, academic goals, distance learning, regulations requirements and barriers, and student’s profiles are considered to explain the success or fail of the programmes. These two case studies could be helpful for other Universities when considering joint master programmes.