University: do I enroll in a double degree?

Each year there are more students who enroll in double degrees or double degrees. The universities have expanded their offer in double grade Obviously they represent a plus of teaching load, but also a better future positioning in the labor market.

A double grade usually consists of two titles of the same branch of knowledge and they share several subjects, so in five or six years the student finishes his career with two degrees instead of one. "The simultaneous degrees are itinerary designs to attend two grades so that the student can achieve a more complete professional preparation than the one that would provide a single grade," says María Isabel Abradelo, vice-chancellor of students of the CEU San Pablo University. The combinations have different levels of demand but Abradelo is convinced that "they are affordable for students who understand that they are acquiring a commitment that will lead them to work intensively for five years".

"Pharmacy and ADE can be an example of very different degrees, but the student who can manage a pharmacy office from the business point of view, while practicing as a pharmacist, has most likely resolved his future, and, in addition, a company Pharmaceutical evaluates a candidate like that, "he says. "Combine Journalism or Advertising with Digital Communication makes all the sense, and Pharmacy and Biotechnology is also a bet with high chances of success," he says.

CEU San Pablo University went last month to Aula, the university fair, with a wide range of simultaneous degrees and degrees already consolidated, many of them taught totally or partially in English, and even linked with international institutions. The American universities of Boston, Chicago, Columbia and Fordham maintain with the CEU International Bilingual Programs (IBP-International Bilingual Programs-) with the Faculties of Economics, Pharmacy, Humanities and Communication Sciences and Law. The students who study these programs receive the first modules in Madrid from the American professors, who are the ones who move to the CEU in the first courses. When the student reaches fourth grade, he moves to Boston, Chicago or New York to receive classes at the corresponding university.

Multiple synergies in double university degrees

For the 2017/2018 school year University Center Villanueva incorporates into its academic offer the double degree in Law and Business Administration, which is studied concurrently with the Minor in Business and Legal Skills program. Villanueva has a long tradition and experience in teaching law and Business Administration and Management simultaneously, which allows addressing the teaching of both curricula, and take advantage of the multiple synergies that occur between the field of management of companies in a global environment and the necessary knowledge of the Spanish, European and international legal system.

This double degree is aimed at students who, with a good academic record prior (since it is a degree with more difficulty than a degree), they want to obtain training in both fields that allows them to develop their professional career in highly dynamic and demanding business and legal contexts and contexts, as well as to acquire a broader perspective. As it can not be otherwise, the double degree in Law and ADE incorporates the internationality for which the Villanueva University Center bets on all its academic offer; an international perspective that is fundamental in these studies. All students of this double degree perform At least one semester of your studies at one of the many foreign universities with which Villanueva has concluded collaboration agreements and at the end of the studies it is possible to extend the international experience with another additional semester in a foreign university.

In the same way, Internship abroad they are part of the training plan of the international semester that all the students of the double degree do. In addition, the program Minor in Business and Legal Skills that attends simultaneously to the double degree of obligatory way in Villanueva offers, like differentiating element, the teaching a second language (in addition to English), among which you can choose French, German or Chinese This degree includes business and legal English, as well as seminars with industry professionals, communication skills, business ethics, entrepreneurship, corporate law or global management. Thus, these studies allow professional practice in both the business and legal fields, although they offer a differential value by combining both disciplines in an international global vision.

Double degrees: emerging professions

Also, in response to a growing demand and highly current in Spain, the Francisco de Vitoria University offers the double degree in Law and Criminology, that allows a varied labor insertion in different fields, especially for future criminologists who will exercise for free. "Those who complete the double degree obtain the Private Detective license granted by the Ministry of the Interior," warns the director of this degree, Sofía Borgia. "This is the main advantage of this double degree," he says.

But this double degree also involves an effort and an important academic load, and dropouts of one of the two grades occur. "We do not have a cut grade to enter, but we recommend that students come with a good grade," he says. "They have to be very aware of what they are going to do, and with a certain capacity for study and sacrifice," he adds. If not, Borgia is clear that it is better to study a single grade, which is already "pretty good".

Criminology is fashionable thanks to series such as CSI and this double degree offers a wide range of opportunities, both to practice the profession of lawyer, criminologist or detective, and even to prepare a competition. "The students like a lot the criminalistics, ballistics, fingerprint analysis *, but they also have to attract the law," he says. "There are students who start a little reluctant with the Law, and in the end they just get hooked, because they also contain very day-to-day disciplines," he adds. "Another reason why they like both careers is that they respond to a vocation for service," he concludes.

International perspective: practice in Europe and the US

Also with a clear professional orientation, the International University of Catalonia (UIC) offers several double degrees among which highlight the combinations with the degree of Law. Iona College, one of the most recognized universities in New York, has approved the degree of Law for students of the International University of Catalonia UIC to access an extra fifth year and thus obtain the double degree in Law and International Relations or Law and Political Science. These are two official degrees that enable you to practice as a lawyer in Europe and as a professional consultant in the United States.

On the other hand, its multidisciplinary profile stands out double degree of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering, with a curriculum that combines company training and industrial production systems. Multidisciplinarity is achieved because part of the program is taught in Turin and, in addition, the possibility of taking most of the ADE subjects in English is offered if the student enrolls in the UIC Barcelona English Program.

Sergio Ortega