Checking date: 24/03/2023


Course: 2024/2025

Bachelor Thesis
(16640)
Dual Bachelor in International Studies and Economics (Plan: 508 - Estudio: 328)


Coordinating teacher: VILLAMIL FERNANDEZ, FRANCISCO

Department assigned to the subject: Economics Department, International Law, Ecclesiastical Law and Philosophy of Law Department, Social Sciences Department

Type: Bachelor Thesis
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course: XXº
Semester:




Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)
For enrolling the BT, students must be enrolled in all remaining courses they need to complete their Bachelor studies. To submit and defend the BT though, students must have successfully passed all required courses included in the International Studies Study Plan. Exceptionally, they may have a maximum of one course to pass at the moment of their defense.
Objectives
-Understand social, political, legal and economic realities from a comparative perspective - Know quantitative and qualitative research techniques and possess the ability to choose which is most adequate to apply in the field of Social Sciences - Be able to debate and formulate critical reasoning, using precise terminology and specialized resources, when analyzing international and global phenomena, employing both the concepts and knowledge from different disciplines as well as the methods of analysis, paradigms and concepts pertaining to the Social Sciences - Be able to apply scientific method to the economic, social and political questions of a global society; be able to formulate problems in this context, identify a possible explication or solution, and a method to contrast them by sensibly interpreting the data. - Be able to show that they possess and comprehend facts and contents in an area of study which, based on a previous general secondary school level, have been extended to those included in advanced textbooks and in some aspects proceed from the most advanced studies in this area. - Be able to show that they have learned how to apply their knowledge professionally to their future jobs or tasks and that they possess the competences needed to develop and defend arguments and solve problems in that area of study. - Be able to show that they are capable of collecting and interpreting the relevant data (normally within their area of study) needed for formulating judgments which require critical thought on social, scientific and ethical topics of relevance. - Be able to show that they are able to transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions both to specialized and non-specialized publics - Be able to show that they have developed the learning skills required to perform further studies with a high degree of self-dependence - Acquire the capacity to communicate knowledge in oral and written form, both to specialized and to nonspecialized publics. - Acquire the capacity to establish good interpersonal communication and to work both in interdisciplinary and international teams. - Acquire the capacity to organize and plan workloads, taking correct decisions based on the available information, collecting and interpreting relevant data in order to provide assessments in that area of study. - Develop the motivation and capacity to perform independent continuous learning for life, with an endowment to adapt to change and new situations. - Be able to discern the differentiating elements in international problems in accordance to the development stages of a country. - Be able to critically relate present and past events and processes. - Be able to formulate and solve basic economic, social, political problems in an international context. - Be able to design and evaluate programs to improve the management and quality of public and private services. - Be able to carry out case studies and apply comparative method to analyze institutions, processes and policies in different countries. - Ability to analyze, from a pluridisciplinary perspective, the principal aspects of international relations on different levels: aggregate (states, societies and economies), individual, and collectives (organizations, firms, interest groups). - Capacity to recognize and contrast key facts, processes and historical factors and to determine the relationships between the political, social and economic aspects in the societies under study. - Capacity to elaborate with clear and well-reasoned arguments the connections between the different disciplines within established theoretical frameworks. - Capacity to determined, contrast and analyze the social, economic and political determinants of structures and developments in an international environment, and to reflect about
Skills and learning outcomes
Description of contents: programme
The objective of the Final Degree Project is that students develop a research project related to any of the subjects studied in the Degree. To do so, the student will apply the scientific methodology learned during the Degree. In the realization of this work, the student will need to choose a topic of interest, and subsequently identify a research problem that can be posed through one or several questions. In the TFG, the student will try to provide answers based on logical reasoning and using the methods of analysis learned during their studies. For the elaboration of the work, students will have a personal tutor. There are two ways to establish and develop the relationship with the tutor: - GENERAL modality: the professors of the area will offer to tutor a predetermined number of Final Degree Works, each one offering a topic related to the contents of the Degree. Within this topic, a more specific object on which to carry out the work will be sought. - SPECIFIC modality: this is a work on a specific topic to be carried out by a single student under the supervision of a professor of the University. Students who wish to carry out this type of work must first contact the professor they would like to act as tutor, who must previously accept it. In general, and except in exceptional cases, all Final Degree Projects in Political Science will be carried out in the GENERAL modality.
Learning activities and methodology
All the activity will take place during the official dates of the semester in which the student is being enrolled in the course. Any further activity or assistance by the advisor will be on his/her own. Office hours: Individual or group sessions, so the advisor will employ 5 hours attending each student's needs. Individual research task. The student will develop the competences and skills acquired along the degree and will apply his/her knowledge into the task of developing a research project in the field of International Studies and, in case of a double degree, Economics, Politics, Business or Law areas, presenting as a result a written manuscript. Student load work: 150h. Advisor´s guidance and attendance: The advisor will attend and guide the student in the research process, making suggestions and comments that will help the student to understand, manage, and solve the challenges presented along the process. The office hours could take place either physically or by any remote platform, both would agree on.
Assessment System
There are two submission periods for the TFG. In the first call both the submission of the TFG and its public defense will be in June, and in the second call the Final Degree Project will be submitted in July and its public defense will be in September. Students must choose between one of these two calls and only those students who have passed 85% of the ECTS credits of their degree can defend the Final Degree Project. Those students who have enrolled in the course and do not meet this requirement at the end of the academic year may waive the call, and must submit the Final Degree Project in the following academic year or, if applicable, in the next submission period corresponding to their degree. In this regard, there is an early call, to which certain students who meet certain requirements may apply, to carry out the Final Degree Project during the first four-month period, the evaluation of which takes place in February. The final grade of the Final Degree Project will be the result of combining in a weighted way the evaluation given by the tutor with the final evaluation carried out by an evaluation panel. The percentage weight of each of them is as follows: Tutor's grade: 30%. Evaluation by the examining board: 70%. In due time, students will be able to consult the evaluation matrix in which the competences established for this subject and the way to evaluate the level of acquisition of each one of them will be identified.
Basic Bibliography
  • Bell, Judith. Cómo hacer tu primer trabajo de investigación. Gedisa. 2002.
  • Brandy, H. E. and Collier, D. (eds.). Rethinking Social Inquiry. Diverse Tools, Shared Standards.. Rowman&Littlefield Publishers . 2004.
  • Corbetta, P. . Social Research. Theory, Methods, and Techniques.. Sage. 2003.
  • García Picazo, P. . La investigación del medio internacional. . Tecnos. 2012.
  • King, G., Keohane, R. O., and Verba, S. . Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton University Press.. 1994.
Detailed subject contents or complementary information about assessment system of B.T.
Additional information

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.