2018-2019 is loaded with new courses. For the coming school year, Spanish universities are presenting innovative courses with a view to attracting new students to their lecture rooms. The programmes that are being added to the existing offer, which comprises about 3,000 degrees, are related to new job opportunities that have arisen through enterprise-driven innovation and technological progress. The traditional degrees, such as Law, Medicine or Philosophy, are giving way to the latest specialized programmes designed for the new generations to find their places in the 21st-century labour market. Here is a sample of the new studies that will be available this year:

1. Smart and Sustainable City Management

This is a programme designed by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) pending final approval. Its aim is to train professionals to manage new urban situations, smart cities, i.e. sustainability-oriented cities covering fields, such as governance, urban planning, public management, technology, the environment, global projection, social cohesion, mobility, transport as well as human resources and the economy.

2. Data Science

The University of Valencia is offering a degree in Data Sciences in response to the need for professionals who are familiar with Big Data and capable of managing and analysing huge amounts of data.

3. Information and Digital Content Management

Very similar to the previous option, this degree on Information and Digital Content Management is offered by the Carlos III University in Madrid (UC3M). Also connected to Big Data, it focuses on the management of social networks and virtual communities.

4. Business Intelligence

The CEU San Pablo University is offering a new degree in cooperation with major Spanish and international businesses. Among the job opportunities this degree provides is the possibility of working in online and digital marketing, social media, or as a business analyst, technology consultant, data analyst or as an entrepreneur in the digital sector.

5. Industrial Fashion Management

La Coruña University is adding this degree to its bilingual programme that enables students to acquire skills related to managing all aspects of the fashion industry value chain. It covers issues relating to design, management, process engineering, information systems and sustainability.

6. Interactive Technologies

This degree, launched last year, can be taken at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPF). Its purpose is to train professionals to do the jobs that will be required in the future due to technological innovations related to virtual reality, robotics, biometric applications, video game design, interactive multimedia applications and web programming.

7. Software Applications Techniques

These studies, which the Salle-Universidad Ramon Llull began teaching last year, focus on the methodological, technical and technological aspects of IT from a very practical point of view, generating profiles related to the development of mobile applications, website creation, systems management, technical support and digital marketing.

8. Biotechnology

This degree programme at the University of Santiago de Compostela covers various fields of work, such as human and animal health, biotechnological process engineering, the agro-food sector, aquaculture or managing the natural environment. It offers a choice of three programmes: Health Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology or Agri-food Biotechnology.

9. Bioengineering

Delivered by the International University of Catalonia (UIC), this degree combines technology and the health sciences. Students specialise in developing dental prostheses and orthopaedic techniques.

10. Bioinformatics

This qualification can be taken at the School of International Studies of the UPF (ESCI-UPF). It provides a solid foundation in biology but focuses on the development of biomedical applications.

11. Gender Studies

The Autonomous University of Barcelona offers the possibility of specialising in gender equality to train professionals to eradicate sexist violence and micro-chauvinistic behaviours that still exist and are visible in society today.

12. Dual Degrees

Dual training is coming to the universities. This mode is being implanted in centres in the Basque Country, where they are combining the skills obtained in businesses with those obtained at university. The University of the Basque Country offers dual degrees in Process and Product Innovation Engineering; Automotive Engineering, Business Administration and Management; and Labour Relations. The Mondragon University will be offering dual degrees in Mechanical Engineering; Industrial Design and Product Development; Industrial Organisation; Industrial Electronics; IT Studies; Energy; Eco-technologies in Industrial Processes; Biomedical Engineering; Mechatronics; and Business Management. In turn, Deusto University is offering a Dual Degree in Labour Relations.