Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales

Justification

Justification for the Degree

A) Prior experience

The Faculty of Law was created by Royal Decree 1807/1980, of 29 August, its immediate antecedent being the University Association of Law created and attached, firstly, to the University of Seville by Decree 2746/1971, of 14 October, and subsequently to the University of Cordoba by Decree 480/1973, of 8 January.

Throughout these more than 35 years, in addition to the University of Seville’s study plan, there have been two study plans that have governed the teaching of the Bachelor’s Degree in Law at the University of Cordoba.

Firstly, there was the study plan approved by Order from the Ministry of Education and Science of 4 November, 1981 (BOE no. 308, of 25 December, 1981). Later, in order to adapt this plan to changes in the regulations, a new study plan was approved and published in BOE No. 31 of 5 February, 2003 (Ruling of 20 December, 2002, of the University of Cordoba, by which the adaptation of the Law Degree study plan was made public). The new plan maintained a five-year structure. This study plan with various modifications made in 2003 (Ruling of 26 June, 2003, by the University of Cordoba, modifying the one of 20 December, 2002, by which the adaptation of the plan for Law Degree studies was made public, BOE no. 175, of 23 July, 2003) and 2007 (Ruling of 22 March, 2007, by the University of Cordoba, amending the study plan of the Bachelor’s Degree in Law, BOE no. 90, of 14 April, 2007) is the one corresponding to the degree still valid in certain courses.

Furthermore, since the academic year 2001-2002, the University of Cordoba’s Faculty of Law has extended the studies provided, with the Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration & Management. A joint arrangement of the degrees in Law and Business Administration & Management is also provided. This is a complementary service, which has made it possible to consolidate the faculty’s structure in terms of resources and students. In addition, the pooling of lecturers among the various courses of study has enabled them to share and extrapolate experience in teaching innovation. To make this new situation clear, the Faculty of Law changed its name to the Faculty of Law and Economic & Business Sciences in 2007.

B) Data on potential demand for the degree

In the last ten academic years alone, over 2,000 students have completed their Bachelor’s Law Degree studies. We believe that this figure clearly demonstrates that the new Bachelor’s Degree currently being offered is another step forward in well-established studies at the University of Cordoba, and that it is a clearly sustainable project over time. The number of new students in the Bachelor’s Degree in the last five years are shown below, where one can see that Law studies have kept up a constant interest in society: - 2014-

- 2014-2015 academic year: 208 students

- 2015-2016 academic year: 177 students

- 2016-2017 academic year: 180 students

- 2017-2018 academic year: 180 students

- 2018-2019 academic year: 180 students

C) Academic and scientific interest

As stated by Rodríguez-San Pedro, Director of the Alfonso IX University History Centre of the University of Salamanca (“Origin and evolution of the University in Spain. The medieval framework. Origin and consolidations”, http://universidades.universia.es, last seen on 1-12-2008), the university institution is the offspring of medieval European Christianity, and it is linked to the urban renaissance of its later stages. In this vein, he explains that the first Iberian universities were set up in the 13th century and adds that these early universities “were preferably geared towards legal studies (canons and civil laws) and the bureaucratic needs of the Church, administration of the State, and the royal professions. The closest model was therefore Bologna, with its outstanding importance of the student body and the predominance of law”. There is no doubt that this academic and scientific interest in Law studies has survived throughout all of these centuries, and enjoys the same or even greater relevance today. Law is an essential instrument for coexistence in our society, and for this reason the education of future jurists and research into this branch of knowledge is paramount. Moreover, Law is often also an engine for social change. The general principles of respect for fundamental rights, human rights, universal accessibility, etc., which according to Art. 3 of Royal Decree 1393/2007 must inspire the drafting of all new study plans, would be nothing without a branch of knowledge to give them the necessary academic and scientific backing.

Moreover, Law has become a key part of other multidisciplinary university studies, namely those that need to prove such academic and scientific interest. It is in this sense that the Bachelor’s Degree in Law was drawn up within the framework of the 2nd Tender for the Design of Study Plans and Bachelor’s Degrees held by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA).

D) Professional opportunities

From the point of view of the job market, it is clear that the great importance of the tertiary sector in our immediate environment has an impact on the profile of professionals demanded by the market. Professional practice linked to legal professions, business consultancy services, banking and finance, as well as public administration, have been some of the main spheres of job creation. In this context, it is worth underlining the need to train legal experts who can meet the demand of this segment of the job market in a great variety of professions: lawyers, business consultants, tax advisers, employment advisers, banking professionals, insurance professionals, public administration functionaries, etc. Hence, when it comes to addressing these educational needs, the Degree in Law taught at the University of Cordoba’s Faculty of Law and Economic & Business Sciences must play a fundamental role. On the one hand, the shortening of undergraduate studies to four years, and the change of focus in the teaching system, which together with training in knowledge boosts the development of competencies and skills of an eminently practical content, should enable legal professionals to be trained so that they can cover the most general needs, from the legal point of view, of the job market (bank employees; civil servants of certain bodies and levels; administrative accountants and agencies; real estate agencies; property administration, insurance, etc.). Nevertheless, bachelor’s degree studies must also provide the market with professionals who are legally more specialised, ready to cover sectors for which the regulations for entry to the professions require graduate status as a minimum.

As the University of Cordoba’s most direct area of influence, the province of Cordoba has two Bar Associations: the Illustrious Bar Association of Cordoba and the Illustrious Bar Association of Lucena. There is an Association of Court Representatives that covers the entire province; and 12 judicial districts. Moreover, the University of Cordoba, at the proposal of the Faculty, has signed agreements to carry out external legal internships by current students with numerous public and private institutions. This collaboration is nothing new, but is the result of the effort made in previous academic years by the faculty’s successive governing teams.

E) Formally regulated profession for which the degree qualifies

1. Lawyers and court representatives. The professional practice of law is one of the professions most frequently chosen by today’s Bachelor’s Law Degree graduates pursue their professional career. Entry to the legal profession is currently regulated by Royal Decree 658/2001, of 22 June, of the General Statute of the Legal Profession. In accordance with Art. 11 of said decree, membership in a Bar Association is compulsory to practise law, added to which Art. 13.c) of the same statute states that in order to become a member of the bar, the requirements include “possession of a Bachelor’s Degree in Law or foreign degrees which, in accordance with current regulations, are homologated with them”. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that by the time the first graduates in Law, in keeping with the new study plans, finish their corresponding studies and intend to enter the job market, the system for entry to the profession will have changed substantially by virtue of the provisions of Law 34/2006, of 30 October on entry to the professions of Lawyer and Court Representative. The purpose of this law is to regulate the conditions for obtaining the professional title of lawyer and the professional title of court representative, in order to ensure citizens’ access to quality advice, legal defence and official representation (Art. 1). To this end, the law makes a distinction between the corresponding university degree (old or new Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Law), and the corresponding “professional certificate of lawyer” or “professional certificate of court representative”, which are the ones that actually give the right to the corresponding bar membership prior to practising the profession (Art. 1.2 to 4 of the Law). According to the Law itself, “perons in possession of the university degree of Bachelor of Law, or the degree that replaces it, shall have the right to obtain the professional title of lawyer or the professional title of court representative, in accordance with the provisions of Article 88 of Organic Law 6/2001, of 21 December on Universities and its implementation and regulations, and which accredit their professional training by passing the corresponding specialised education and the evaluation regulated by this Law.” This specialist education “shall be acquired through training courses accredited jointly by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education & Science via the procedure established by law” (Art. 2). In this vein, the Law on entry to the profession provides for the possibility that training courses for lawyers “can be organised and taught by public or private universities, in accordance with the regulations governing official postgraduate university education”, the accreditation for which must take into account “a period of external work experience”, in accordance with the requirements provided by the Law itself (Art. 4). Such courses may also be taught by the legal practice schools created by the bar associations, approved by the General Council of Bar Associations, “provided that the aforementioned courses are jointly accredited by the Ministries of Justice and of Education and Science” (Art. 5). After completing the corresponding post-graduate courses, the Law provides for an “evaluation of professional aptitude to culminate the professional trainiing process” and which “is intended to objectively certify sufficient practical training to exercise the profession of court representative or of the profession of lawyer, as well as knowledge of the respective deontological and professional guidelines”. In order to avoid detrimental effects on the expectations of law students at the time the Law is approved, its third final provision establishes a long vacatio legis period of five years, as of its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE). This means that as of October 2011, Law graduates who wish to practise the professions of lawyer or court representatve must take the postgraduate course for professionalisation, followed by the corresponding entrance exam, as prerequisites for bar membership. In order to offer future Law graduates from the University of Cordoba the possibility of attaining the aforementioned requirements to enter the profession, the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Law and Economic & Business Sciences maintains fluid conversations with the bar and court representative associations to jointly design and teach a master’s degree for professionalisation that meets the requirements set out in Law 34/2006, and at the same time satisfies the interests and needs of the university’s academic community and the relevant professional associations.

2. Legal Professionals in the Government Administration. It is well known that public administrations at the level of state, region or local government provide a wide range of posts for people with a degree in law. According to current regulations, possession of a Bachelor’s Law Degree is a requirement to sit the entry examinations related to certain posts or levels within the civil service. These include lawyers and legal professionals for the State or the Autonomous Community regions, senior officials in the Civil Administration, State finance inspectors, labour and social security inspectors, etc. Looking to the future, in all of the aforementioned cases as well as in others in which the corresponding regulations provide for it, it is necessary to comply with the provisions laid down by the legislator as regards the future Law degree enabling them to sit the corresponding public service entry exam. However, if the law requires exclusively the [new] Bachelor’s Degree in Law (in cases for which the law so stipulates) and in others whereby the law itself requires one to be in possession of the corresponding Master’s Degree, the fact is that the minimum requisite will always be to obtain the [new] Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

3. Judges, Court Clerks, Public Prosecutors. Another professional sector traditionally associated with the legal professions is in the judiciary. At present, access to these professions is also regulated by Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July on the Judiciary, amended by Organic Law 9/2000 of 22 December on urgent measures to streamline the Administration of Justice. Generally, it is necessary to obtain the prior Bachelor’s Degree in Law, pass a system of freely open entrance exams, after which the candidate, now as a “trainee civil servant”, takes a theoretical and practical course at the corresponding Judicial School. The requirements stipulated by law to sit the open entrance exam include possession of a Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

4. Notaries and Registrars. In the case of notaries, the Notarial Regulations of 2 June, 1944, stipulate that the profession of notary can be entered via open entrance exams, and one of its basic requirements is to be a Doctor or Bachelor in Law. This system is similar to the one provided for in the case of Property Registrars (vid. Mortgage Regulations) or Company Registrars. Most especially, vid. Royal Decree 1728/1991, of 29 November, which amends certain articles of the Mortgage Regulations and the Notary Regulations concerning entrance exams for the qualification of Notary and for Applicants for Property and Company Registrars.

5. Other professional opportunities. A wide range of professions. Finally, it should be taken into account that current graduates with Bachelor’s Degrees in Law, and future Law Graduates, have and will continue to have a wide range of professional opportunities within their reach. Many of these do not specifically require possession of a [new] Bachelor’s Law Degree as a basic prerequisite to practise them; nor do they require passing a previous official exam, civil service entrance exam or similar test; nor even prior bar association membership. However, experience shows that a degree in Law gives significant educational and professional advantages compared to other academic certificates to access such jobs. This is the case, for example, of professions linked to the world of banking, business consultancy and administration, property administration and intermediation, insurance, administrative and accounting agencies, tax and business consultancy, etc.

F) Salidas académicas

Aparte de la vinculación con otros Grados impartidos dentro de la Universidad de Córdoba que poseen un elevado contenido jurídico (Grado de Administración y Dirección de Empresas o Grado de Relaciones Laborales y Recursos Humanos), el Grado de Derecho guarda afinidad especialmente con el Máster en Derecho Autonómico y Local, así como con el Máster en Comercio Exterior e Internacionalización de empresas y el Máster en Políticas Territoriales de Empleo. También es preciso destacar el Máster en Formación de Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas.

Competences

Competences

In accordance with the Conclusions of the Assembly of Spanish Law Faculty Deans, which met in Cordoba on 25 and 26 October 2007, Law Faculties must play a fundamental role in the ongoing, continual training of all legal professionals. In this sense, one of the preliminary general aims sought by the Graduate Degree in Law is to ensure that all graduates have adequate knowledge of legal institutions, in order to guarantee the development of a social, democratic Rule of Law, and to do so taking into account respect and support for fundamental rights and equality between men and women, equal opportunities, nondiscrimination of people with disabilities and a culture of peace and democratic values. All of this is enshrined within the framework set out by Law 51/2003, of 20 December, on equal opportunities, nondiscrimination and universal accessibility for people with disabilities; Law 27/2005, of 30 November, on the Promotion of Education and the Culture of Peace; Organic Law 3/2007, of 22 March, on the effective equality of women and men; and Law 12/2007, of 26 November, on the promotion of gender equality in Andalusia. In addition, it should be noted that the knowledge, study and practical application of these principles and values are expressly included in many of the subjects included in this Study Plan.

The great diversity of legal professions, in both the public and private spheres, makes it impossible for graduates to be given sufficiently specialised technical training in the four Bachelor’s Degree academic years to enable them to directly begin practising certain professions. For this reason, the Assembly of Deans unanimously agreed to state that “in order to properly carry out the functions of professions that require additional legal qualifications to that of the Bachelor’s Degree in Law, the education will require the corresponding official master’s degree to be obtained which prepares and formally qualifies as a condition to enter said professions”. For this reason, a secondary aim of the Bachelor’s Degree in Law being presented involves general orientation, which must be complemented by future graduates by means of the corresponding master’s degrees and, where appropriate, by meeting the legal or regulatory requirements to enter the corresponding legal professions (lawyers, judiciary, notaries, registries, civil service, etc.).

However, this general vocation of the Bachelor’s Degree is perfectly compatible with practical orientation, both as regards the knowledge given and the competences and abilities the graduates must acquire. In this regard, it is worth pausing for a moment to look at some of the reflections that can be found in what is known as the Reflex Report. This is a report drawn up within the context of the research project entitled “The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society. New Challenges for Higher Education in Europe”, within the European Union’s 6th Framework Programme, and which analysed the insertion of university graduates into the job market (see http://www.aneca.es/estudios/estu_informes.asp). According to this report, one of the main characteristics of the Spanish university system is that it is still based on an eminently theoretical teaching system, with low levels of practical teaching compared to other European countries. According to the aforementioned report, “the very low assessment of problem-based learning in two areas in which it seems that solving problems is essential (Law and Health) is striking” (Reflex. Executive Report, p. 19, 21). Along the same lines, the White Paper on the Bachelor’s Degree in Law published by ANECA concludes that “the experience and skills acquired at University are perceived as a more important factor in professional development than having a degree or qualification in Law” (p. 87) and highlights the “overwhelming demand (65% of respondents) for ‘more practical classes’” (p. 87), as well as the results from the surveys from Order ECI/3008/2007 shown above.

In this vein, the third aim is included in the new Study Plan for the Official Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of Cordoba, which plans to consolidate and increase practical learning activities in order to help acquire the skills and aptitudes required by the job market for legal professionals. In short, one of the Bachelor Degree’s basic aims is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to capably tackle the essential core functions that a lawyer is called upon to fulfill and provide them with the learning skills necessary to take on further studies with a high level of autonomy.

Finally, the fourth and final aim, which is closely related to the previous one, is to train graduates with the necessary skills to adapt to changing social realities and legal systems, including their own entrepreneurial ability.

Hence, in summary, the four aims put forward are as follows:

- Adequate knowledge of all the basic legal institutions

- Generalised vocation

- More practical learning activities

- Skills to adapt to change

General Competences

- Basic Competence 1 (CB1): Demonstrate possession and understanding of up-to-date knowledge of the main legal institutions

- Basic Competence 2 (CB2): Know how to apply this legal knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems

- Basic Competence 3 (CB3): Know how to gather and interpret relevant information to make judgments that include a reflection on important issues of a social, scientific or ethical nature

- Basic Competence 4 (CB4): Be able to convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialised or non-specialised people.

- Basic Competence 5 (CB5): Develop the necessary learning skills to take on subsequent studies with a high level of autonomy

- University Competence 1 (CU1): Prove use and mastery of a foreign language

- University Competence 2 (CU2): Know and improve their user’s level in ICTs

- University Competence 3 (CU3): Foster active job search habits and entrepreneurship abillity

Specific Competences

- Specific competence 1 (CE1): Become aware of the importance of Law as a system to regulate social relations

- Specific competence 2 (CE2): Acquire the perception of the unitary nature of the legal system and the interdisciplinary nature of legal problems

- Specific competence 3 (CE3): Be able to use constitutional principles and values in interpreting the legal system

- Specific competence 4 (CE4): Acquire a critical awareness in analysing the legal system and developing a legal dialectic

- Specific competence 5 (CE5): Understand the different ways of creating Law within its historical evolution and current reality

- Specific competence 6 (CE6): Be able to read, interpret and write legal texts

- Specific competence 7 (CE7): Be able to work in a team

- Specific competence 8 (CE8): Be able to carry out negotiation and conciliation work