Master in Chemical Research and Industrial Chemistry

This Master is a versatile qualification structured on the basis of a research orientation and a professional one. The first is intended to be a training tool for the subsequent completion of a doctoral thesis in the field of Chemistry. The second aims to complement the academic training of the Degree with specialized training in Chemistry and Industrial Economics, which allows privileged access to the labor market in the field of the Chemical industry. This qualification replaces the Master's Degree in Advanced Chemistry, requested in its day by the consortium made up of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the University of Vigo (UVI).

This previous master's degree was designed in 2006 based on Royal Decree 56/2005 as a one-year degree (60 ECTS), with the aim of training advanced and current topics in Chemistry, mainly Chemistry graduates or those coming from of other related degrees interested in expanding their academic and technical training, to allow them to start a professional career that would require a specialization in Chemistry in fields such as the chemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical industry, production of new materials, agri-food, control and environmental study, analysis and quality control, phytosanitary and biosanitary and in the field of renewable energies. The master's degree also had an important research profile and gave access to a doctorate in Chemical Science and Technology, a degree also taught by both universities. In the initial proposal, this master's degree in Advanced Chemistry was integrated into the so-called Official Postgraduate in Chemical Science and Technology, but, after its adaptation to Royal Decree 1393/2007, these two degrees became independent and simplified degrees.

However, one aspect detected from the beginning of the previous master's degree was the low degree of interaction with the professional and industrial world, evidenced by the large number of students who, once the master's degree was completed, opted for doctoral studies. This, without being negative, does not stop evidencing the strong investigative character of the result of the academic offer. In addition, the adaptation of the Chemistry Degree studies to those of the Chemistry Degree led, among other things, to a substantial reduction in advanced content, which was taught in the 5th year of the degree. The latter affects above all the level reached in each university with respect to the development of each of the competencies.

These two reasons of scope made it advisable to reform the previous master's degree in Advanced Chemistry on the basis of the following modifications:

Adapt the master's level to graduates in Chemistry and unify the level of the students, thus guaranteeing success in the acquisition of the specific competences of the degree. Partially reduce the offer of advanced studies of the master's degree. The excessive offer of subjects in the previous version of the master's degree frequently produced the repetition of content and this was very difficult to avoid due to the very uneven distribution of students in the subjects. With less offer, students are more grouped and coordination between teachers is more efficient. Include in the study offer courses with a clear professional profile, as well as the possibility of taking internships in the industry, to meet the demand of those students with interests in the industrial sector. In this way, the scientific and professional interest of the master's degree is guaranteed, thus recovering its academic interest, given the relevance of its specific objectives, which continue to be the following:

 - Complete the student's training in advanced fields of Chemistry.
 - Prepare you to carry out research, development and innovation tasks in Chemistry, not only academically but also industrially.
 - Provide training in fields of professional practice related to research and other activities unrelated to it that make up the activity at a business level.
 - Contribute to their training on a practical level, providing them with the option of developing specific tasks related to the activity in each of them in the company or at the University.