Journalism Degree (3rd edition)

• Admission profile

  • Interest in the media and knowledge of current events.
  • Ability to relate current information with the social, economic, and political context in which it occurs.
  • Interest in reading and writing as a formative and creative activity
  • Ability to observe the environment and communicate with its agents.
  Although no specific prior training is required, admission to the Degree in Journalism will be determined by the weighting of the specific optional subjects of the university entrance test, predominating those in the Arts modality and the Humanities and Social Sciences modality. without restricting access from other high school modalities.

• Minimum number of ECTS enrollment credits per student and school period

  • Interest in the media and knowledge of current events.
  • Ability to relate current information with the social, economic, and political context in which it occurs.
  • Interest in reading and writing as a formative and creative activity
  • Ability to observe the environment and communicate with its agents.
  Although no specific prior training is required, admission to the Degree in Journalism will be determined by the weighting of the specific optional subjects of the university entrance test, predominating those in the Arts modality and the Humanities and Social Sciences modality. without restricting access from other high school modalities.

• Tutorial action and reception

  At the Faculty of Communication Sciences, the following lines of action are developed to support the reception and orientation of new students as they join the university and the degree:
  1. Centre website.
  https://www.usc.gal/es/centro/facultad-ciencias-comunicacion
  2. Welcome ceremony.
  During the first week of each academic year, a welcome day is organised to orient new students. Those responsible for the dean's team, degree and course coordinators and the student tutors participate in this session. The event ends with a guided tour of the centre. Details about the operation of the Faculty (computer classrooms, library loans, study rooms) and general guidelines on the study plan are explained: permanence rules, exams, advice on enrolment, calls, etc. To this session A representative of the chancellor's team attends and informs the new students about the functioning of the University in general and, above all, about their rights and duties, as well as the activities that are organized in the university environment.
  3. Support from student tutors.
  In the second semester of each course, a group of second- or third-year students are prepared to be student tutors in the following year. The training of tutors, given by qualified personnel, brings them up to date on everything related to the USC and how to guide new students. As stated above, tutoring begins on the first day of the incoming course and continues throughout the academic year. With this system, already experienced since the 2006-2007 academic year, the aim is for the student to have a fluid relationship within the Faculty in everything related to information and orientation. Finally, the participation of administration and service personnel in the system of support and guidance for students must also be indicated, especially those who have responsibilities in the management of internship and student mobility programs, library, and teaching support.
  4. Diversity attention plan.
  The Faculty of Communication Sciences is governed by the Protocol for attention to people with disabilities of the University of Santiago de Compostela, prepared by the University Participation and Integration Service (SEPIU) and available in this link:
  https://www.usc.es/es/servizos/sepiu/sc103/apoionee.html
  This plan includes integration protocols for students with visual disabilities, hearing disabilities, physical disabilities, and people with mental illnesses.
  5. Faculty social networks (@facom_usc).

• Title suspension rules

  When a degree suspension occurs, the USC guarantees the adequate development of teachings that were initiated by their students until its suspension. For that, the Government Council approves the criteria related with the admission of new degree entry registration and the gradual suspension of teaching impartation, among others.
  If the suspended degree is substituted for a similar one —modifying the nature of the degree—, the new degree regulations will set the conditions to facilitate students the continuity of the new degree’s studies. These regulations will also set subject equivalences in both programs.

• Access and admission rules

  The entrance tests to the three Galician universities (Baccalaureate Evaluation for access to the University (ABAU) and for people over 25 and 45 years old) are organized by the Interuniversity Commission of Galicia (CIUG). To apply for a place, students must meet one of the following access requirements established in article 3 of RD 412/2014:
  • Have a high school diploma or equivalent and pass the university entrance test.
  • Meet the requirements for access to university in the educational systems of Member States of the European Union or other States with which Spain has signed international agreements on this matter.
  • Have passed the university entrance test for those over 25 years of age, for those over 40 years of age with work or professional experience or the test for those over 45 years of age.
  • Possess a degree in higher vocational training, teaching of plastic arts and design or higher sports technician, or equivalent qualifications.
  • Have an official university degree, master's degree or a title corresponding to the previous organization of university education (university diploma, technical architect, technical engineer, graduate, architect, engineer) or equivalent titles.
  • Have completed partial foreign or Spanish university studies, or who, upon completing foreign university studies, have not obtained their homologation in Spain and wish to continue studies at a Spanish university. In this case, it will be an essential requirement that the corresponding university recognize at least 30 ECTS credits.
  • Be able to access the university according to educational regulations prior to Organic Law 8/2013, not included in the previous sections.

  In general, there are the following access routes to the University:
  - University access test (ABAU) Once you have finished high school, in order to access a university degree, you must pass the Baccalaureate Evaluation for access to the University.
  https://ciug.gal/gal/abau
  - Access from Vocational Training If you have an official title of higher vocational training technician, higher plastic arts and design technician or higher sports technician, or titles, diplomas or studies declared equivalent or approved in the Spanish educational system, you can access to study a degree at the university. Applications will be ordered according
  to the average grade of the higher technical degree completed out of a maximum of 10. If you wish to improve your admission grade for degree studies, you can take the voluntary part of the ABAU test.
  https://www.usc.es/export9/sites/webinstitucional/gl/servizos/oiu/desca…
  - Access test for people over 25 years of age This test can be taken by people who are over 25 years of age in the year in which the test is held and who do not have any academic qualifications that give access to the university through another means.
  - People over 45 years of age Those over 45 years of age can study official degree qualifications after passing an adapted entrance test.
  - Access over 40 through validation of work experience.
  Access for those over 40 years of age to the Degree in Journalism through validation of the professional experience that has been designed will be carried out taking into account the suitable professional profiles and the personal interview.
  The level of professional qualification required of the applicant will be that corresponding to the professional qualifications of the professional families and levels of the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications (CNCP), prepared by the National Institute of Qualifications (INCUAL), from which it has been established the following list of professional families and levels with access to the Degree in Journalism:
  List of professional family members and levels with access to the degree
  · Graphic arts: Level 2 and 3
  · Commerce and marketing: Level 2 and 3
  · Image and sound: Level 2 and 3
  · Computer science and communications: Level 2 and 3

The objective of the Degree in Journalism is to train professionals capable of practicing journalism in any information and communication media. The training provided provides them with a solid knowledge of the functioning of today's complex societies, the fundamentals of Social Communication, the media landscape and the tasks that a journalist must perform. Students who take the Degree are trained to create journalistic pieces for all media and channels. The intellectual background acquired in the Degree qualifies them not only for the use of current technologies, but also to move in today's complex societies and to reflect on the role of journalism and its application in different contexts and scenarios. The training of future graduates enables them to face the foreseeable changes that will occur in the world of communication, both from the perspective of social uses and from the technological perspective.
Training objectives of the mentions
Mention in Investigation and Journalistic Narratives
The objective is to train professionals with a profile that guarantees competences and skills in journalistic research and journalistic narratives, both inherited ones and those that emerge in the shadow of the transformations experienced in the digital scenario. Students who take the subjects of this mention are trained to publish in-depth multimedia journalistic works, through the cultivation of current research techniques and digital narratives.
Mention in Information Visualization
The objective is to train professionals with a profile that guarantees competences and skills to interpret, compare and present data visually. Students who take the subjects in this mention are trained to publish journalistic works that, after the transformation of solid knowledge and data, offer visual information that is understandable to the user.

• Competencies

  COM.1 - Design and implement communication strategies to solve specific problems or needs in the journalistic field.
  COM.2 - Gather, manage and interpret relevant information and data within the field of journalism to develop arguments on relevant topics of a social, scientific or ethical nature.
  COM.3 - Design and develop journalistic projects in different media, supports and context.
  COM.4 - Manage collaborative work and lead professional projects and teams in the field of journalism.
  COM.5 - Choose and judiciously apply knowledge and skills that nourish the development of creative abilities, initiative and entrepreneurial spirit.
  COM.6 - Apply the knowledge and skills acquired in a professional and ethical manner in the field of Communication, taking as a reference the democratic principles and values and the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Abilities and skills

  A/S.1 - Apply oral, written, audiovisual and multimedia expression techniques to prepare journalistic information.
  A/S.2 - Analyse the state of communication processes and media organizations to make decisions and propose solutions in their different areas.
  A/S.3 - Manage the media, technologies, tools and current platforms for the development of journalistic activity.
  A/S.4 - Apply methods and techniques of investigation, documentation, verification and processing of data and journalistic information.
  A/S.5 - Transmit efficient information to both a specialised and non-specialised audience.
  A/S.6 - Apply techniques for the management of emotional intelligence in the practice of journalism.

• Knowledge

  K.1 - Understand the social, political, economic, legal and cultural context in which journalism is developed.
  K.2 - Know the principles of journalism and communication to develop professionally and ethically.
  K.3 - Know the foundations of research from a scientific or journalistic perspective to describe and explain reality.
  K.4 - Examine the impact of technologies in the field of communication and on professionals.
  K.5 - Distinguish the different ways of managing complexity in the communicative context.
  K.6 - Identify the references that will allow the construction of critical thinking applied to journalism.

Mobility

Student mobility is regulated through the “Regulation of inter-university exchange.” Exchange programmes are managed through the International Relations Office, such as national exchange programmes (SICUE) as well as Europeans (ERASMUS) and from outside the European Union (exchanges with Latin American countries or English-speaking countries):
https://www.usc.gal/gl/servizos/area/internacional
The USC Faculty of Communication Sciences has had Erasmus exchange programs since 1998. Currently there are exchanges with universities in Germany (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau), France (Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, Université Vincennes-Saint-Denis - Paris 8, Université de Rennes 1, Université Rennes 2), Czech Republic (Univerzita Karlova V Praze), Greece (Ethniko Kai Kapodistriako Panepistimio Athinon, Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikis), Italy (Università di Bologna - Alma Mater Studiorum, Università del Salento, Università degli Studi di Macerata, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Libera Università Maria Ss Assunta, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Università degli Studi di Torino), Poland
(Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawla II W Krakowie , Uniwersytet Lodzki), Portugal (Universidade do Minho, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Universidade de Coimbra, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Universidade da Beira Interior, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Universidade do Porto), Czech Republic (Univerzita Karlova V Praze) and Turkey (Anadolu Üniversitesi and Üsküdar Üniversitesi).
The dissemination of these exchange places is done through the electronic bulletin board, since the call depends on the Mobility Office, and from the Faculty through information meetings, website, physical bulletin boards and social networks.
A similar process is followed for the management of the SICUE program, in which the Faculty has the following agreements with Spanish universities:
University of Alcalá de Henares, Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Barcelona, University of Burgos, Carlos III University, University of Castilla-La Mancha, University of Extremadura, University of Granada, Jaume I University, University of La Laguna, University of Lleida , University of Málaga, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, University of Murcia, University of the Basque Country, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Pompeu Fabra University, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Ramón Llull University, Rey Juan Carlos University, Rovira i Virgili University, University of Seville, University of Valencia, University of Valladolid and University of Vic.
In addition, the Faculty also offers mobility places by bilateral agreement in non-EU countries and through specific Erasmus actions in other regions.

Internships

The internships are optional. The Faculty annually organises two public calls for internships in companies for undergraduate students, distributed throughout the academic year in two periods: from November to March and from April to August.
The Faculty's internship programme offers only paid internships, both curricular and extracurricular. Places are offered in companies in the communication sector with a specific focus on journalism: media in different media (press, radio, television, multimedia), agencies, institutions, and production companies.
The list of agreements in force at the Faculty can be consulted in the Practices area of the website:
https://www.usc.gal/es/centro/facultad-ciencias-comunicacion/practicas

• Graduates profile

  Journalist, editor, consultant and communication manager, content manager and editor in all media, researcher and teacher.

The final dissertation consists of 12 mandatory credits to be taken in the second semester of the fourth year of the degree.
Students will prove the ability to apply the knowledge acquired throughout the degree in the planning and development of a specific communication project t
possibilities related to information communication, from research and information communication skills to the capacity in the projection of a business project.
The specific proposals for the degree lines of work are proposed and approved each year based on the dominant information, communication or media trends at each moment and their relationship with the research areas of the degree faculty.