Program Overview

Introduction to the Degree in Biomedical Engineering

The Degree in Biomedical Engineering is a fascinating discipline for individuals who are drawn to technology, science, biology, and medicine. Biomedical engineering aims to solve problems in the field of biomedicine using technological tools and engineering principles. It focuses primarily on the development and application of technologies, such as medical devices and algorithms based on artificial intelligence, to understand, diagnose, and treat human diseases.

Program Details

• Duration: Four academic years.
• Price: 1,248.52 €. This is an indicative price for the first year for EU students.
• Places: 40 new places are available for the first year.
• Admissions: Information on how to access these studies can be found in the admissions section.
• Branch of knowledge: Engineering and architecture.
• Schedules: Classes will be held in the morning and afternoon in all courses.
• Calendar: From September to June.
• Credits: 240 ECTS credits, including:
  • Basic subjects: 64 credits.
  • Compulsory subjects: 112 credits.
  • Elective subjects: 40 credits (including up to 9 credits of external practices in companies and up to 30 credits of international mobility).
  • Compulsory external practices: 6 credits.
  • Final degree project: 18 credits.
• Languages: Catalan, Spanish, and English (depending on the subject). Subjects in the third and fourth years are taught in English.
• Location: Poblenou Campus and Mar Campus.
• Organization: School of Engineering and Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

Presentation

The Degree in Biomedical Engineering offers a solid education, combining technology, basic sciences, mathematics, and biomedicine, enabling students to work on projects that apply technical engineering principles to the fields of medicine and biology. The degree structure allows students to take personalized itineraries according to their interests, thanks to a wide range of elective subjects, many of which follow a project-based learning methodology.

Data and Indicators

• The Degree in Biomedical Engineering has a duration of 4 years with 40 new places for the first year.
• In the period from 2020 to 2023, the total number of enrolled students remained around 200, with a gender ratio of around 66%-34% (women-men).
• The cut-off mark has decreased from 12,572 to 12,418 during these years.
• The academic performance rate ranges between 90.18% and 93.21%, with a success rate of credits passed between 92.95% and 95.67%.

Study Plan

• New Study Plan: Starting from the 2025 academic year, a new study plan for the Degree in Biomedical Engineering (plan 764, version February 2025) will be implemented.
• The study plan includes a wide range of subjects, each with its own teaching guide. Every year, a list of elective subjects is published.

Practices

• The study plan includes optional external practices in companies starting from the third year.
• External practices are a formative action developed by students and supervised by the university, with three main objectives:
  • Apply and complement the knowledge acquired in academic training.
  • Bring students closer to the professional reality in which they will exercise their activity once they graduate.
  • Develop competencies that favor their incorporation into the labor market.
• In the Degree in Biomedical Engineering, there are 84 companies and organizations where 229 students have done practices during the last three years.

International Stays

• The study plan includes optional international stays starting from the third year.
• Agreements with European universities include those in Germany (Tübingen, Munich), Austria (Hagenberg), Croatia (Zagreb), France (Paris-Cergy, Grenoble, Lyon 1), Ireland (Maynooth), Iceland (Reykjavik), Italy (Rome, Bologna, Milan, Padua, Palermo), Portugal (Lisbon), Sweden (Gothenburg, Karlstad), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (Warwick, Essex).
• Outside of Europe, there are also agreements with universities in the USA, Canada, Korea, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico.

Professional Outcomes

• Biomedical engineers can work in universities, industry, hospitals, research facilities of educational and medical institutions, teaching, and regulatory agencies.
• They often perform a coordination or interconnection function, using their applied experience in both the scientific-technical field and the clinical-biomedical field.
• Examples of professional outcomes include:
  • Artificial organs (hearing aids, pacemakers, artificial kidneys and hearts, oxygenators, synthetic blood vessels, joints, arms, and legs).
  • Automatic patient monitoring (during surgery or in intensive care; healthy individuals in unusual environments, such as astronauts in space or divers underwater at great depths).
  • Blood chemistry sensors (potassium, sodium, O2, CO2, and pH).
  • Advanced therapeutic and surgical devices (laser system for eye surgery, automatic insulin dosing, etc.).
  • Application of expert systems and artificial intelligence to clinical decision-making (computer-based systems for disease diagnosis).
  • Design of optimal clinical laboratories (computerized analyzer of blood samples, cardiac catheterization laboratory, etc.).
  • Medical imaging systems (ultrasound, computer-assisted tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, etc.).
  • Computational modeling of physiological systems (blood pressure control, renal function, visual and auditory nervous circuits, etc.).
  • Design of biomaterials (mechanics, transport, and biocompatibility properties of implantable artificial materials).
  • Biomechanics of injuries and the healing process (gait analysis, application of growth factors, etc.).
  • Sports medicine (rehabilitation, external support devices, etc.).

Testimonials

• Maria Sánchez, a third-year student, says: "From the third year onwards, we have access to do practices in leading companies in our sector."
• Anna Barredo, a fourth-year student, comments: "The continuous involvement in real practical projects allows us to develop competencies and skills necessary to work in multidisciplinary teams, while also acquiring fully applicable technical knowledge to labor situations."
• Alumni of the Degree in Biomedical Engineering, such as Ivan Luque del Toro and Roser Sánchez, have gone on to work in prestigious companies and research institutions, applying their knowledge and skills in the field of biomedical engineering.

Cut-off Marks

• The latest published cut-off mark for the Degree in Biomedical Engineering is 12,286.