Master's students at the Barcelona School of Economics receive academic guidance throughout the year. A guidance action plan has been established by the professors who direct each Master's program, together with the BSE's Academic Committee and the Deputy Director for Academic Affairs. 

Academic guidance for all BSE Master's students

Program directors meeting: at the beginning of each academic year (during the first week of September) the master directors have a meeting with all the students to give them some guidance and offer their support. In this meeting, the directors explain the master structure, the channels of communication, and the professional opportunities.

Meeting with the directors: throughout the year the two master directors have several individual meetings with the students. These meetings are scheduled to address academic doubts that cannot be resolved at general meetings. These meetings can be at the request of both the student and the master directors. In addition, master directors are always available to students to meet with them to support and clarify any aspect of the master in general as well as of a particular student. For example, they are helped to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Meeting about the Master Project: meetings with the master directors and all students of the master to give them the details about the organization and academic requirements of the master project. In these meetings students also receive advice about the choice of topic and supervisor. These meetings start in February and after that moment, students meet with the director of their master project on a regular basis.

Additional meetings with the directors: throughout the year students have the option to request an appointment to talk with the directors about their academic performance. At the beginning of the course, the directors inform the students about the office hours.

Ratio students to director/tutor: The ratio of students per tutor (master director) in the master is between 15 to 20 students per director.

Faculty meetings: the faculty of the master also has office hours so that students can make an appointment to solve doubts.

Teaching Assistants: when necessary, and subject to the nature of the course, many courses have a teaching assistant who helps students and the faculty. The teaching assistant meets the whole class at a ratio of 1hour per every 4 faculty hours. In these classes the teaching assistant solves the homework that students have previously handed in.

Master Project Supervisor: during the end of the second term and all the third term, the students are also supervised by the master project director. The supervisor, in agreement with the master directors, also advises the student to achieve the necessary skills assign to this important project.

Electronic communication: In addition, students have direct access to the master directors, as well as to all other faculty guiding them, via email. This tool has become very useful and used by students when their request guidance is on something small and concrete. This communication channel allows a fast interaction. If the directors or faculty see the need for a personal appointment, this is requested.

Students with poor academic performance: those students, if any, whose academic performance is poor are closely advised throughout the year. The student is guided on the options to overcome their difficulties and they are informed about the alternatives to graduate, also, if necessary, during the following academic year.

Guidance for students in the Master's Degree in Data Science

Practicum meeting: at this meeting students are informed about the opportunity to do a practicum with an external company as part of the master program. The practicum is not compulsory, but the students do obtain credits from it. In this meeting the directors of the master give the details about the practicum so that interested students can already start thinking about this.

Data Science Community Meeting: at the beginning of the academic year, there is a formal meeting in which current students from the master can meet with former students (alunni), teachers, collaborators, and companies related to the master's degree.

Practicum: By the time they start the Practicum in April, students will have acquired a number of skill bundles that allow companies to set up ambitious projects for them. In order to guarantee the quality of their experience and the achievement of the necessary 300 hours of practice, they are assigned a tutor within the company they work for. At the same time, the program directors are also in contact with the students and ask for feed-back to make sure they get the most out of this unique experience. Over this period, students will start preparing a Practicum Project that will be presented and graded at the end of the year as an evaluation for the 6ECTS workload.

This Student Academic Guidance Action Plan has been approved by the BSE Academic Committee.