Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition

2017-2 Curriculum

Introduction

The Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition is supported by a feasibility study indicating that Baja California has a high prevalence of diseases related to inadequate nutrition, chronic-degenerative conditions, and other health issues that require the intervention of nutrition professionals. For this reason, offering an academic program in nutrition is considered necessary, as it enables participation in the care of patients with chronic-degenerative diseases, particularly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, and certain types of cancer, while also contributing to preventive activities related to nutrition.

It is important to note that this proposal not only seeks to expand the academic offerings with quality, relevance, and equity, but also positions UABC as an agent that promotes sustainable development.

The program addresses the following professional challenges and competencies:

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


• Evaluate metabolic diseases through clinical and/or biochemical analysis in order to provide appropriate nutritional treatment and improve the population's quality of life, with responsibility and respect for human dignity.


• Evaluate the lifestyles and eating habits of the population through the application of diagnostic techniques and methods that identify their influence on health, in order to implement intervention strategies aimed at modifying attitudes and behaviors while respecting cultural values.


• Design nutrition intervention and counseling programs based on national and international nutrition policies to improve the health of the population within a framework of respect and community responsibility.


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

Mission

The mission of the Nutrition Program is to educate professionals in the field of nutrition who are capable of generating, disseminating, and applying scientific and technological knowledge through a solid and comprehensive education, in order to respond to nutritional health challenges in their environment with a humanistic, ethical, moral, and social approach.

Vision

The vision of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition is to be socially recognized as an academic and opinion leader in the field, with a well-established faculty and an academic program accredited by national organizations affiliated with COPAES (Council for the Accreditation of Higher Education). Its graduates will be fully integrated into the labor market and distinguished by their leadership, knowledge, and effective and efficient application of skills, with a strong ethical, methodological, and humanistic foundation, working in an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary manner across the different fields of nutrition. The program maintains strong links with the health, education, productive, and social sectors in order to contribute to the preservation of individual and collective nutritional health.

Specific Objectives

1. Develop students' skills for the effective application of nutritional assessment methods, enabling them to evaluate the nutritional status of individuals accurately and ethically.
2. Train students in the detailed design of nutritional programs and plans, providing them with the tools needed to address diverse needs and contexts in a personalized and effective manner.
3. Equip students with the competencies needed to efficiently implement food and nutrition programs at the institutional and population levels, thereby promoting meaningful and sustainable nutritional interventions.
4. Provide students with comprehensive education in nutrition by addressing not only technical aspects but also ethical, social, and humanistic dimensions, ensuring balanced and complete preparation.
5. Support faculty members in developing a comprehensive profile that enables them to participate actively in teaching, research, academic advising, and management within the field of nutrition.
6. Prepare faculty members to serve as facilitators and promoters of the learning process, fostering a collaborative and enriching teaching-learning environment in the field of nutrition.
7. Encourage students to participate actively and responsibly in their own educational process in the field of nutrition, fostering a strong commitment to their learning.
8. Ground academic work in fundamental principles such as responsibility, honesty, respect, and appreciation of effort, promoting an ethical and professional culture within the Nutrition Program.
9. Keep the contents of the Nutrition Program current and relevant, ensuring that they reflect the latest research and advances in the field of nutrition.
10. Promote student exchange within the Nutrition Program, creating opportunities for collaborative learning and diverse perspectives.
11. Foster an institutional environment in which values are central to teaching practice and student education within the Nutrition Program, promoting a culture of respect, ethics, and responsibility.
12. Establish effective links with public and private institutions, promoting strategic collaborations that enrich both the academic education and professional opportunities of students in the Nutrition Program.

Description of the Academic Program Proposal

The Nutrition Program was designed under the UABC 2013 Educational Model, which is philosophically and pedagogically grounded in humanism and constructivism. This model promotes active, student-centered learning and lifelong education. The graduate profile and courses are defined to ensure that graduates of the program are able to perform the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary professional activities of a nutrition professional in the productive and health sectors, whether in the short, medium, or long term.

The curriculum consists of eight academic periods organized according to the different stages of education: Basic, Disciplinary, and Final. It includes 248 required credits, including 10 credits for professional practice, as well as 92 elective credits, including 2 credits for community engagement projects, for a total of 340 credits.

Several courses are shared with the Medicine, Dental Surgery, Nursing, and Psychology academic programs offered by the Health Sciences academic units in Tijuana and Mexicali at UABC: Course Code 11269 - Oral and Written Communication, 11275 - Research Methodology, 12680 - Epidemiology, 11270 - Health Terminology (elective), 12670 - Human Sexuality (elective), and 12661 - Human Development (elective).

Learning and Credit-Earning Modalities and Their Operating Mechanisms

In accordance with the purposes established in the Flexible Educational Model and the institutional regulations set forth in Article 155 of the Academic Statute, a range of theoretical-practical experiences known as learning modalities has been established. Through these modalities, students develop their intellectual and practical potential. These experiences may be completed in various academic units within the University, in other national or international higher education institutions, or in the social and productive sectors.

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

• Active student participation in activities of personal interest that enrich and complement their professional education


• Interdisciplinary education by enabling direct contact with content, experiences, students, and faculty members from other institutions or organizations


• Diversification of teaching-learning experiences.

These learning modalities allow students to select activities for credit recognition that will strengthen their professional profile in their area of interest, with the support of a professor or tutor. These may include required courses, elective courses, independent studies, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, research practice, support for extension and community engagement activities, and community engagement projects with credit value.

Admission Profile

Graduate Profile

Graduates of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition will develop a humanistic perspective, understanding the individual as a complex bio-psycho-social entity, with critical judgment and respect for ideological diversity. They apply scientific knowledge, as well as critical, innovative, creative, and reflective abilities, to the nutritional and food process in order to respond to the needs and demands of their environment. They develop methodologies and techniques to assess the nutritional and food process in individuals, families, and communities, and may conduct scientific studies in the field of human nutrition, engaging in research activities through critical analysis with emphasis on their areas of specialization: clinical nutrition, population nutrition, and food services, in order to communicate their studies and research in different scientific forums.

Therefore, graduates of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition are considered professionals capable of:

1. Identifying nutritional intervention needs through the application of evidence-based nutritional diagnosis for disease prevention or health restoration at different stages of life, with honesty and professional ethics.


2. Evaluating chronic-degenerative diseases and other nutrition-related conditions through clinical and/or biochemical analysis in order to provide evidence-based nutritional treatment and improve the quality of life of the population, with responsibility and respect for human dignity.


3. Evaluating the population's eating habits through the application of evidence-based diagnostic techniques and methods that identify their influence on health, in order to implement intervention strategies aimed at modifying attitudes and behaviors while respecting cultural values.


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


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

Occupational Field

Graduates of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition are prepared to work in the following professional settings:

Public Sector:

• Health sector: IMSS, ISSSTE, ISSSTECALI, Ministry of Health
• Childcare centers in the DIF, IMSS, and ISSSTE systems
• Education sector: public schools
• Sports centers
• Food services in healthcare centers

Private Sector:

• Private practice
• Hospitals and restaurants
• Hospitals
• Nursing homes
• Orphanages
• School and industrial dining facilities
• Private schools

Community Service

UABC requires undergraduate students to complete community service in accordance with Article 5 of the Mexican Constitution and institutional regulations (Chapter One, Articles 2, 5, and 6 of the Social Service Regulations dated August 13, 2007). This activity is completed during the Basic Stage. The academic unit has a designated coordinator who supports the functions of the stage coordinator. This modality is structured as community service, which does not require a specific professional profile. Its purpose is to strengthen students' values-based education and requires a minimum of 300 hours. At the beginning of the academic period, students must participate in an institutional workshop conducted by the Community Service Coordinator of the academic unit. After completing the workshop, students may be assigned to any activity registered in the catalog of receiving units (institutional, federal, state, and/or municipal) available to the academic unit.

Some of the courses that may be associated with community service include Nutritional Education, Nutritional Assessment, and Body Composition, among others. For Professional Community Service, the associated courses may include Community Nutrition, Food Hygiene and Legislation, Food Service Administration, and Clinical Nutrition.

Professional Community Service

Professional Community Service consists of a set of mandatory and temporary educational and knowledge-application activities carried out by undergraduate students for the benefit or interest of disadvantaged or vulnerable sectors of society. It is oriented toward the application of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and values that students have acquired and developed during their university education, and requires a minimum of 480 hours (UABC, 2014, Educational Model of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Mexicali, Mexico: Author, Planning and Institutional Development Notebook, 21).

For the community service activities of students enrolled in the Bachelor's Degree Program in Nutrition, the general provisions and guidelines established in the institution's Social Service Regulations will be considered (UABC, July 2, 2007, Gaceta Universitaria No. 189, Social Service Regulations of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexicali), as well as the specific guidelines and directives for regulating full compliance with university social service (UABC, December 2010, Lineamientos y directrices específicos para regular el cabal cumplimiento del servicio social universitario [online], retrieved on December 9, 2014 from http://www.uabc.mx/formacionbasica/documentos/lineamientosss2010.pdf). These activities emphasize that educational and knowledge-application actions should benefit or serve the interests of marginalized sectors of society.

Given the characteristics of the program, students will be encouraged to carry out Professional Community Service activities in healthcare institutions, industrial dining facilities, manufacturing companies, childcare centers, schools, restaurants, and other settings.

Professional Practice

Professional practice is defined as "the set of activities and tasks inherent to professional education for the application of knowledge and engagement with the social and productive environment" (Chapter One, Article 2, subsection i of the General Regulations for Professional Practice). It may begin once 70% of the credits have been completed (Chapter Six, Article 19 of the same regulations). Courses that meet the requirements of professional practice may be associated with the curriculum, including Food Service Administration, Clinical Nutrition, Clinical Diet Therapy, and Nutrition Research.

Graduation

• Graduation from a High-Quality Academic Program. The only requirement is to graduate, or to have graduated, from a high-quality program endorsed by the corresponding organization.


• Professional Examination. Formerly the only degree option, it has become one of several current modalities. It includes several options: thesis, degree course, academic merit, curricular course, extracurricular course, curricular workshop, audiovisual unit, and degree seminar. Students who wish to do so may choose to take the professional examination.


• General Undergraduate Exit Examination. Proof of having taken the EGEL, EGETSU, or EGEPT (for technical programs) with a sufficient score is required. Students who achieve a high-performance score may be eligible for honorable mention.


• Overall Grade Point Average. An overall grade point average (PGC) equal to or greater than 85, or its previous equivalent of 8.5, is required regardless of whether the student has failed any course. Students with a PGC of 90 or higher who have passed all courses through regular assessment may be eligible for honorable mention.


• Related Graduate Studies. Students must have completed all credits of a specialty program or 50% of the credits of a master's degree program, with prior approval from the academic unit.


• Professional Practice or Professional Experience. Students must request and obtain approval from the academic unit for supporting documents demonstrating at least two accumulated years of professional experience in their discipline.


• Community Service Report or Memoir. Students must prepare the report or memoir and obtain approval from the academic unit before starting it and after completing it.


• Others that may be established in the curricula.

Curriculum Map

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Course Programs

HC= Class/Theory Hours, HL= Laboratory Hours, HT= Workshop Hours, HCL= Clinical Hours, HPC= Field Practice Hours,HE= Extra-Class/Self-Study Hours, CR= Credits