Educational Program in Nutrition

Curriculum 2016-2

Introduction

The Bachelor in Nutrition program is based on a feasibility study, which states that Baja California is a federal entity with a high prevalence of diseases related to poor nutrition, chronic degenerative pathologies and other pathologies that require the intervention of a nutritionist. Because of this, it is necessary to offer an educational program in nutrition that involves the care of patients with chronic degenerative diseases, mostly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, skeletal muscle disorders, as well as some cancers, while still participating in preventive activities related to nutrition.

It is important to note that this proposal aims to meet the expanding educational supply with quality, relevance and equity, as well as to define UABC as a representative promoting sustainable development.

Issues and professional skills considered:

• Identify nutritional intervention needs, by applying nutritional diagnosis for disease prevention or health restitution at different stages of life, with honesty and professional ethics.


• Evaluate metabolic diseases through clinical and/or biochemical analysis, to provide adequate nutritional treatment and improve the quality of life of the population, with responsibility and respect for integrity.


• Evaluate the lifestyles and eating habits of the population through the application of diagnostic techniques and methods that identify their influence on the health of the population. This, in order to implement intervention techniques that can modify attitudes and cultural behaviors.


• Design nutrition intervention and guidance programs based on national and international nutritional policies to improve the health of the population, within a framework of respect and social responsibility.


• • Evaluate food services management in industries through the application of official national and international standards to verify compliance with the establishment and hygiene quality standards, with leadership, honesty and respect.

Mission

The Nutrition Program aims to train professionals in the area of Nutrition who are capable of generating, spreading and applying scientific and technological knowledge with solid and integral training to respond to nutritional health problems in their environment, following a humanistic, ethical, moral and social approach.

Vision

The Vision of the Educational Program in Nutrition is to be socially recognized as an academic and opinion leader in the area, with a consolidated teaching staff, and an educational program accredited by national organizations affiliated to COPAES (Council for the Accreditation of Higher Education). We strive to have graduates who are fully integrated to the labor market, who stand out for their leadership, knowledge and effective and efficient application of skills. Students with a broad ethical, methodological and humanistic sense who are able to work in the different fields of nutrition in a multi, trans and interdisciplinary way. With close links to health, education, productive and social sectors in order to contribute to the preservation of individual and collective nutritional health.

Program Proposal Description

The design of the Nutrition Program was carried out under the UABC 2013 Educational Model, which is philosophically and pedagogically based on humanism, constructivism. Constructivism promotes active, student-centered learning and lifelong education. The graduate profile and learning units are defined, to ensure that the graduates comply with the multi and interdisciplinary professional practice of a Bachelor in Nutrition in the production and health sectors, whether in the short, medium or long term.

The curriculum consists of eight school periods, organized according to the different stages of training: basic, disciplinary and final. It consists of 248 compulsory credits (including 10 professional internship credits), as well as 92 optional credits (including 2 Linkage Project credits), totaling 340 credits.

The Physician, Dentist Surgeon, Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Psychology educational programs of taught at UABC’s Higher Education Unit of Health Sciences in Tijuana and Mexicali have some learning units in common: Key 11269 - Oral and written communication, 11275 - Research Methodology, 12680 – Epidemiology, 11270 - Health Terminology (Optional), 12670 - Human Sexuality (Optional) and 12661 - Human Development (Optional).

Learning and Credit-Earning Modalities and their Operating Mechanisms

According to the purposes set out in the Flexible Educational Model, and the institutional regulations expressed in article 155 of the Academic Statute, a range of theoretical-practical experiences called learning modalities have been formed, with which the students may develop their intellectual and practical potential. These modalities can be studied in various academic units within the University, in other national or international higher education institutions or in the social and business sector.

By conceiving the learning modalities in this way, the following advantages are obtained:

• Dynamic participation of the student in activities of personal interest that will enrich and complement their vocational training.


• Interdisciplinary training, by allowing direct contact with content, experiences, students and teachers from other institutions or entities.


• Diversification of teaching-learning experiences.

These learning modalities allow the student to select activities for academic credits, which will consolidate their professional profile in the area of interest with the support of the teacher or tutor. These may be: Mandatory learning units, optional learning units, independent studies, teaching assistantship, research assistantship, research practice, assistance to extension and linkage activities, and linkage projects with academic credit recognition.

Applicant Profile

Graduate Profile

The Bachelor in Nutrition graduate will develop a humanistic character. They consider the individual as a complex bio-psycho-social entity while applying critical judgment and staying respectful of the ideological diversity. Graduates apply their scientific knowledge, as well as their critical, innovative, creative and reflective abilities, on the food process in order to address the needs and demands of their environment. They develop methodologies and techniques to assess the nutrition process of individuals, families and community. They are able to implement scientific trials in the field of human nutrition and engage in research actions using critical analysis focusing on their specializing areas: population, clinical nutrition and food services, to publish their trials and research in different scientific spaces.

Therefore, the Bachelor in Nutrition graduate is considered to be a professional capable of:

1. Identifying nutritional intervention needs, by applying nutritional diagnosis based on scientific evidence for disease prevention or health restitution at different stages of life, with honesty and professional ethics.


2. Evaluating chronic-degenerative diseases and other nutritional diseases through clinical and/or biochemical analysis, to provide adequate nutritional treatment based on scientific evidence and improve the quality of life of the population, with responsibility and respect for integrity.


3. Evaluating the eating habits of the population through the application of diagnostic techniques and methods based on scientific evidence that identify their influence on the health of the population. This, in order to implement intervention techniques that can modify attitudes and cultural behaviors.


4. Designing nutrition intervention and guidance programs based on scientific evidence and national and international nutritional policies to improve the health of the population, within a framework of respect and social responsibility.


5. Evaluating food services management in institutions and businesses through the application of official national and international standards to verify compliance with the establishment and hygiene quality standards, with leadership, honesty and respect.

Occupational Field

The Bachelor in Nutrition is prepared to perform in the following work areas:

Public Sector:

• Health Sector: IMSS, ISSSTE, ISSSTECALI, Secretariat of Health
• Childcare units of DIF, IMSS, ISSSTE system
• Academic sector: Public schools
• Sports centers
• Food service in health care centers

Private Sector:

• Private Consultation
• Hospitals and Restaurants
• Hospitals
• Nursing Homes
• Orphanages
• School and Industrial Dining Halls
• Private Schools

Community Social Service

UABC considers the provision for students at the bachelor's degree level to perform social service in accordance with constitutional article 5 and institutional regulations (chapter 2, 5 and 6 of the Social Service Regulations of August 13, 2007). This activity is carried out in the basic stage. A person responsible for the academic unit assists the activities of the stage coordinator. This modality is structured in community social service, in which a particular professional profile is not required. It aims at strengthening the values of students and contemplates a minimum of 300 hours. At the beginning of the academic period, the student must participate in an institutional workshop conducted by the Social Service Responsible of the academic unit, after which the student is able to select any of the activities registered in the Receiving Unit Registry (Institutions, Federal, State and/or Municipal) at the academic unit.

Some of the learning units that can be associated to the community social service are: Nutritional Education, Nutritional Assessment, Body Composition, between others. The learning units for the Professional Social Service are: Community Nutrition, Hygiene and Food Legislation, Food Service Administration and Clinical Nutrition.

Professional Social Service

It is a group of mandatory and temporary activities that the bachelor undergraduates must carry out where they can learn and apply knowledge to benefit disadvantaged or vulnerable sectors in society. The Professional Social Service is aimed at the application of knowledge, abilities and values obtained and developed by the students during their university education. It consists of a minimum of 480 hours. (UABC, 2014, Educational Model of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Mexicali, Mexico: Author (Academic Plan Log and Institutional Development, 21).

The students of the Bachelor in Nutrition Degree may carry out their social service in consideration of the general bases and guidelines established in the social service regulations of the institution, (UABC, July 2, 2007, Gaceta universitaria No. 189. Social Service Regulations of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Mexicali.), as well as specific guidelines to regulate the fulfillment of the social service in the university (UABC, December 2010, "Lineamientos y directrices específicos para regular el cabal cumplimiento del servicio social universitario" [on line] retrieved on December 9 of 2014 from http://www.uabc.mx/formacionbasica/documentos/lineamientosss2010.pdf); It must serve to emphasize that training and knowledge-application activities are focused on the benefit or interest of marginalized sectors of society.

Given the characteristics of the bachelor's degree, the student will be encouraged to carry out professional social service activities in health institutions, industrial dining halls, production industry, nurseries, schools, or restaurants among others.

Professional Practices

It is the "set of activities and chores typical of vocational training for the application of knowledge and linkage to the social and business fields" (Chapter One, Article 2, subparagraph (i) of the General Regulations for the Provision of Professional Practices). Professional Practice can begin after having obtained 70% of the academic credits (Chapter Six, Article 19 of that regulation). Learning units may be added to the curriculum to meet the requirements of professional practice. That includes learning units such as: Food Services Administration, Clinical Nutrition, Clinical Diet therapy and Nutrition Research.

Certificate of Degree

• Complete the Educational Quality Program. The only requirement is to have completed a quality program endorsed by the relevant institution. See www.uabc.mx/csege/titulacion/PEBC.


• Professional exam. This used to be the only way of obtaining a certificate of degree. Now, it has become part of the new modalities. It consists of several options: Thesis, degree course, School Merit, Curricular Course, Extracurricular Course, Curricular Workshop, Audiovisual Unit, and Degree Seminar. Those who wish to do so, may choose to take the professional exam.


• General Final Exam for the Degree (EGEL). Proof of general final exams: EGEL, EGETSU or EGEPT (for technicians) with a sufficient score is required. Students who achieve a high performance score, will be entitled to receive an honorable mention.


• Overall Average Grades (PGC). A PGC equal to or greater than 85 (or its previous equivalent of 8.5) is required regardless of whether the student has failed any subject. Students whose PGC is 90 or higher and who have also passed all their subjects in an ordinary way, will be entitled to honorable mention.


• Related Postgraduate Studies. It is necessary to have covered the total credits of a specialty or 50% of a master's degree credits, after approval by the academic unit.


• Professional Practice or Exercise. The student must present evidence documents of at least two years of accumulated professional exercise in their discipline. They must request and receive the approval of said documents by the academic unit.


• Social Service Report. It is necessary to prepare the report and receive the approval by the academic unit before starting it and after concluding it.


• Others that may be stated in the curriculum.

Curriculum

Download Curriculum chart:

Learning Unit Program

HC= Class/Theory hours, HL= Laboratory hours, HT= Workshop hours, HCL= Clinic hours, HPC= Field Practice hours,HE= Extra-class/Self-learning hours, CR= Credits