Study plan Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Public Administration

Basic skills

• Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
• Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
• Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
• Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
• Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Specific skills

• Distinguishing the discipline's main theories and different fields: conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and theoretical approaches underlying the discipline's knowledge and different areas and sub-areas, as well as their value for the professional practice through concrete cases.
• Applying the discipline's main theories and different fields to real practical and professional problems.
• Managing the different theoretical contributions about actors and actor's networks, as well as the characteristics of collective action.
• Applying various theoretical contributions about actors, actor's networks, and collective action to practical, real or simulated problems from real life and the professional practice.
• Analysing the behaviour of the political actors, both individually and collectively (parties, interest groups, social movements, etc.).
• Applying the different behaviour analysis techniques and political actors to real cases from the internal and international political arena.
• Identifying main actors of the political system, inspecting their interactions and assessing their behaviour in their environment and in the political system from a theoretical and practical perspective.
• Demonstrating the comprehension of the structure and functioning of political systems in the internal and international arena, both in the analytic area and in the elaboration of intervention proposals or public policies.
• Connecting the different components that shape the structure and operations of political systems and the environment where they interact.
• Demonstrating the understanding of the structure and operations of political institutions.
• Applying the knowledge of the structure and operations of political institutions to problems and practical, real or simulated cases.
• Managing the main theoretical formulations about political institutions and connecting them with the global structure of political systems, both in the internal and international arenas.
• Demonstrating the comprehension of citizen behaviour and democratic values, particularly in internal or international concrete cases.
• Explaining political, individual and collective attitudes and behaviours, as well as the education process and expression of political preferences.
• Identifying and distinguishing the functioning of the electoral processes.
• Analysing the electoral processes, including campaigns, parties' electoral strategies, political scenarios and analysis and interpretation of electoral results.
• Managing contemporary political theories and understanding its analytical value in internal or international concrete cases.
• Identifying and connecting main contemporary political theories, interpreting classical and current political texts, and arguing from different theoretical positions.
• Interpreting political and social historical frameworks, as precedents of the actual ones, in order to better comprehending today's reality.
• Describing and understanding the functioning of the Public Administration on a state, sub-state and supranational level.
• Applying the knowledge of the Public Administrations on its various levels to practical and professional concrete cases.
• Demonstrating the understanding of intergovernmental relationships and identifying the position of Public Administrations in the political system.
• Analysing public policies, both in their elaboration and implementation processes.
• Using different tools for the analysis and explanation of the formulation, decision, implementation and evaluation processes in public policies.
• Demonstrating knowledge about the structure and working of the European Union and its main institutions, as well as identifying the main political actors and recognising the main means of integration.
• Demonstrating they know theoretical tendencies and classical and recent analytical approximations of International Relations.
• Assessing specific distinctive aspects and conceptual and methodological instruments of the different tendencies and analytical approximations of International Relations.
• Applying theoretical and analytical knowledge of International Relations to practical and professional cases, in particular to the areas of conflict and cooperation between actors.
• Planning complex tasks in the fields of analysis, conduction of studies or implementation of interventions within the several subdomains of political science, international relationships or public administration.
• Demonstrating the comprehension of the logic behind the scientific analysis of political sciences.
• Managing the methodological foundations of politic sciences.
• Producing and giving efficient political speeches, working from a marketing approach and using rhetoric, reasoning and oratory techniques.
• Demonstrating the comprehension and application of the main rhetoric and discourse building techniques of political nature.
• Students must be capable of knowing and applying basic terminology in English related to political sciences.

Transversal skills

• Working in teams and networking, particularly in interdisciplinary conditions.
• Identifying sources of data and conducting bibliographic and documentary searches.
• Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
• Interpreting and applying English texts in an academic way.
• Arguing from different theoretical perspectives.
• Working by using quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques in order to apply them to research processes.
• Using the main information and documentation techniques (ICT) as an essential tool for the analysis.
• Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
• Showing a good capacity for transmitting information, distinguishing key messages for their different recipients.
• Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
• Making decisions in different contexts.
• Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
• Working autonomously.
• Producing and preparing presentations of reports and intervention proposals.
• Producing and planning researches or analytical reports.
• Designing data collection techniques, coordinating the information processing and meticulously applying hypothesis verification methods.