FIB statement: Adjustments of the academic activity

 

Up-to-date 27th November

According to last RESOLUTION SLT / 2983/2020 of the Government of Catalonia, of 21 November, regarding the measures adopted in public health, the terms of such measures concerning universities activity will be extended.

Therefore:

• We maintain the teaching planning until the end of the present semester as it has being developed currently.
• Some subjects that are currently being taught completely online may propose some face-to-face activity such as a seminar, class of problems and/or laboratory in order to prepare the final exams or carry out delivery, defence or demonstrations of projects/practicals.
• The exams are kept to their calendar and in general, they will be done face-to-face at the FIB facilities.

Consult the Racó, Atenea and/or those who are responsible for the subjects to inform you of the activities related to each subject.

We remind you that a certificate indicating the face-to-face activities that you have to carry out on campus is available at the Racó. This certificate, together with the Self-Responsible statement, allows you to justify your mobility linked to the University.

 

We take this opportunity to inform you of the latest news:

• Improvement jobs at the computer rooms in A5-S1, B5-S1 and B5-S2 have already been completed. These actions aiming to improve air renewal in these spaces have cost more than 100,000 euros. Being these computer rooms available, we will proceed to relocate some activities.
• The North Campus library has reopened adapting its services. Check the conditions and timetables on their website.
• Until 11 December, the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital of Barcelona performs voluntary rapid detection tests for COVID-19 in the North Campus of the UPC university community, free of charge and with no previous appointment. Check the UPC website for more information.

 

Up-to-date 29th October

According to the information provided by the Government, the terms of the resolution SLT / 2546/2020 of the Government of Catalonia will be extended.

Therefore:

1. Until further notice, we maintain the teaching planning as it is being developed currently.
2. The exams are kept to their calendar, and in general they will be done face-to-face at the FIB facilities. The days 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 of November are exclusively devoted to taking evaluation records (there are no classes).

Taking into account the new restrictions on mobility, if you are asked by an authority to provide proof of the reasons for your trip (including Friday mobility, which may involve a change of municipality), you must provide these documents:

1.  Download and have available the registration form or certificate of enrolment for the current term. You can obtain them from the e-Secretaria.
2. Fill in, generate and download the self-responsible statement for journeys for the health crisis caused by COVID-19 available on the web.  

We also remind you that:

• You must consult the Racó, Atenea and / or those who are responsible for the subjects to inform you of the conditions in which the scheduled evaluation activities will be carried out.
• Students who have face-to-face activities on Campus after 7:00 p.m. can download a personalised certificate in case you need to justify your mobility on the days you have face-to-face classes.

In case something changes, check regularly the usual communication channels.

 

Up-to-date 20th October

In order to comply with RESOLUTION SLT / 2546/2020 of the Government of Catalonia, of October 15, by which new measures are adopted in public health to contain the epidemic outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the territory of Catalonia, and in accordance with the instructions of the Rector's Office of the UPC, all face-to-face theoretical teaching must be transferred to virtual format.

As you already know, the schedules of the different FIB degrees were defined to minimise student mobility and following health criteria. The need to teach all the theory classes in a non-face-to-face mode causes fragmented timetables in some GEI courses and master's degrees in terms of face-to-face, and generates situations that go against the purpose (reduction of mobility) of the measure itself.

In front of this scenario, we have to adjust the planning of some degrees with respect to what I informed you last Friday 16th October.
These changes become effective from tomorrow, Wednesday, 21st October, and until next Friday, 30th October, both included.

Bachelor Degree in Informatics Engineering

• Common compulsory subjects from Q1 to Q4 (Q1: F, FM, IC, PRO1; Q2: EC, M1, M2, PRO2; Q3: BD, CI, EDA, PE, SOUND; Q4: AC, IDI, IES, EEE , XC) will be taught with the theory groups online and with the laboratory groups face-to-face.
• The rest of the subjects (the compulsory PROP and PAR, specialisation subjects and the optional subjects) are taught completely online.

Bachelor Degree in Data Science and Engineering

• All the subjects will teach the theory groups online and the laboratory groups face-to-face.

Note: Because of the UPC's action protocols for confirmed cases of COVID-19, all academic activities will be taught online.

Master in Informatics Engineering

• All the subjects will be taught online, except for the SEU laboratory.

Master in Innovation and Research in Informatics

• The teaching of all the subjects will be online. The OS subject will carry out face-to-face laboratory activity during the current week at the scheduled times (Tuesday and Friday).

Master in Artificial Intelligence

• All academic activities taught by the 3 participating Universities (UB, UPC and URV) become online.

Master's degree in Secondary and Upper Secondary Education, Vocational Training and Foreign Language Teaching

• This master keeps the teaching in the current blended and compact form of seminars, following the scheduled planning.

 

As far as possible, a mechanism must be enabled for all degrees to provide online monitoring of face-to-face activities, such as the streaming system (hybrid class).

As usual, it is necessary to inform the students via the Racó and / or Atenea the detailed information on the adaptation of your subject for the next two weeks, as well as the links so they can be connected to the online and hybrid sessions.

We regret the inconvenience that this adjustment may cause, and we remain at your disposal for any questions.

 

Information 14th October

Recently the Department of Health has expressed the need to reduce mobility and social interaction for 15 days in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In this direction and as a general guideline, the Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have recommended that theoretical classes have to be taught on-line, while practical and laboratory classes have to be taught face-to-face.

Considering this situation, we inform you of the general criterion that the Barcelona School of informatics (FIB) is going to apply over the next two weeks in order to reduce the number of face-to-face classes:

• The subjects that are currently being taught in a:
  • face-to-face mode (all classes being face-to-face) will be taught in a blended mode: as a general criterion, the theoretical classes will be taught on-line and labs will be taught face-to-face.
  • blended mode (part of the activities being taught face-to-face and the other part on-line) and those that are taught completely on-line will keep the current format.
• The new arrangements will start on Monday, 19 October, and will continue until 30 October 2020. Therefore, the academic activity during the current week remains in the same format as until today.
• Your teachers will inform you via Racó or Atenea of the details of subject adaptation during the next two weeks.
• Exams will be carried out in-person according to the current calendar (4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 November).
• Given the significant number of students who are currently confined, we are working on the possibility that face-to-face classes at computer labs can be also followed on-line.

We take advantage of this message to inform you that we have already enabled the web app to monitoring class attendance and traceability in face-to-face activities using the Racó. Besides, you will find more information in the announcement at the Racó.

In addition, we will continue to keep you informed through the usual communication channels.

In order to make the effort worthwhile, we all must act responsibly by limiting social interaction and leaving our home only for essential activities.

In the hope that the measures taken will achieve the expected goal, we thank you in advance for the responsibility and effort of everyone.