Objectives & competences

Master's studies, in general, are intended for students that aim to acquire advanced training, of a specialized or multidisciplinary nature, of an academic or professional specialization, or to promote the initiation of research tasks in specific academic areas. It is in this last scenario where the present title of University Master's Degree in Computational Biology is located.

The objective of this Master program is to provide training mainly dedicated at Computational Biologists with a scientific profile, although an itinerary has been designed that can allow the acquisition of competencies in Bioinformatics Engineering with special emphasis on management, treatment and analysis of massive data (big data).

In this way, professionals in Biology and Informatics and, in general, professionals in Science and Technology, will be provided with a greater degree of knowledge in Computational Biology, so that they are trained to work in Research Centers and Research Groups in the field of Bioceonomy (plant biotechnology, agri-food, health, environmental, etc.) and in the field of computer science associated with databases and big data. Therefore, the training acquired in the master has an important transversal component, which opens up a wide range of professional possibilities for graduates.

Thus, the main goals of the program can be specified in the following specific objectives:

• Objective 1. Acquire advanced knowledge and demonstrate, in a context of scientific and / or technological research, a detailed and well-founded understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects and of the work methodology in Computational Biology.
• Objective 2. Provide a greater degree of knowledge in techniques and methods of Computational Biology to be able to tackle and solve problems of a scientific and technological nature.
• Objective 3: To have developed sufficient autonomy to participate in research projects and scientific or technological collaborations within the field of Computational Biology, in interdisciplinary contexts and, where appropriate, with a high component of knowledge transfer.
• Objective 4: To train the student to be creative when addressing and solving problems of a scientific and technological nature in the field of Computational Biology, and to assume responsibility for their own professional development.

• The first includes general competences, some from a Royal Decree and, therefore, common to any Master's degree in Spain, other Master´s programs of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and, finally, some included in the ANECA standard.
• The second category of competences includes those related to the transversal orientation of the proposed degree, which reflect the objective of the master's degree to provide both research and professional training.
• Finally, the third category includes the specific competencies in Computational Biology, which differentiate the proposed title and program from any other master's degree in the same area of ​​knowledge.