Institute of Sciences (ICI)

The Institute of Sciences (ICI) of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento is in charge of the General University Cycle. It offers a basic vocational trainingprogramme and produces, through teaching and research, a global and integrated focus on the specific problems that are tackled by the different areas of knowledge.

Why an institute and what are the problems it deals with?

The Institute of Sciences is one of the four units which integrate the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS) and its fundamental objectives are the following:

• Research in basic science fields, the study of the contemporary social changes and the problems dealt with by the humanities.
• Training and updateactivities in the different areas of knowledge.

Its objective is to deal with the issues that, although not specifically linked to the issues studied in the other Institutes, are conceptually related to them.

Tutorial system

The UNGSgives the students the possibility to access a tutorial system, each student chooses a lecturer who acts as a tutor, in order to help the student during the studying process.

Scholarship system

The UNGS offers a broad Scholarship Programme which includes: economical scholarship support for degree students, research and teaching scholarships for advanced students and graduates from our university, and scholarships in academic management and community services.

Professional practice

Students of the Institute of Sciences have the possibility of participating in research projects, community services and internships in firms, in order to gain a better experience in their field of study.

Advantages of studying in a university campus

The University has a modern campus where the students have access to lecture rooms distributed in several modular premises, labs and other high value resources to carry out the different activities that their studies demand. The scholars in the Institute of Sciences have assigned offices where computers, Internet, printers and telephones are available. There is also a computer lab for advanced students where they can carry out professional activities. Additionally, the UNGS library with a large range of books and journals that is continually updated, with a data retrieval service through the Internet and access to external catalogues, are at the students’ disposal.

Novel curricular structure

The structuring of a degree in two cycles has the advantage of permitting the students to spread their capacities, broaden their knowledge and become better prepared for the successful development of their chosen career. While, in the traditional system the students have to choose for a degree at the moment they start university –with the frustration that follows if the choice turns out to be wrong–, UNGS allows its students to choose a more general direction in their learning during the first semesters, allowing for a later choice of professional direction with a better foundation. This novel curricular structure also favours the interaction between students with different interests and knowledge, allowing for the enrichment of the learning process.

General University Cycle

The Institute of Sciences is in charge of the General University Cycle which comprises the obligatory initial stage of all the degrees that are taught in the University. Its academic offer gives a solid general and basic foundation in science, from a perspective that includes the most important advances in the scientific disciplines through a reflective and critical way of learning.

The General University Cycle has a duration of five semesters, at the end of which a University Diploma in General Studies is obtained in some of the following specialisations:Exact Sciences; Social Sciences; Human Science; Industrial Technology; Administration. As well as facilitating the entry to working life, this General University Cycle allows the students to start the Degree Cycle, where they can concentrate their studies more specifically towards a particular degree. The General University Cycle represents a novel alternative that gives the students the opportunity to mature before deciding on a specific career, since it gives them the chance to choose from a diverse group of alternatives in the Second Degree Cycle.

The main objective of this General University Cycle is that the students may incorporate the fundamental concepts and reasoning models of the central disciplines of each specialisation, as an introduction to their future degree. As well as the structure for specific specialisations, the following common subjects are offered: Contemporary Socio-economic Problems I, Reading-writing Workshop and Utility Workshop. This guarantees an initial training that is not only academic but also practical for an early entry to the labor market. Additionally, during the last two semesters the subjects are organized with a lab structure so that learning strategies centered on problem solving may be developed, also facilitating interdisciplinary approaches and the consolidation and integration of what has been learnt.

Specialisations

The different specialisations have a formative nucleus that comprises, in each case, two articulating disciplines.

• Specialisation in Human Sciences: it provides a basic foundation in humanities, with an emphasis in history and philosophy. It focuses more on problems than on the purely chronological order.
• Specialisation in Administration: its objective is to provide the students with a basic training in two areas, administration and economics, with a focus that allows them to integrate the problematic nuclei of each discipline.
• Specialisation in Exact Sciences: it provides a basic training in two areas: mathematics and physics; it also includes a strong chemistry component. In addition to the basic theoretical foundation there are lab activities for experimental science.
• Specialisation in Social Sciences: it provides a basic training in social sciences, concentrating especially on sociology and economics. It focuses on the teaching of the subjects and fundamental paradigms of these disciplines and it includes the problematic treatment of those conceptual nuclei.
• Specialisation in Technology: the objective of this specialisation is to give the student a basic training in three disciplines: mathematics, physics and technology.

List of diplomas, degrees and teaching degrees

Degrees and Teaching Degree for Secondary School Level - options following the completion of each diploma:

Postgraduate

TheInstitute of Sciences is responsible for the Social Sciences Postgraduate Programme, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Development Institute (Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social –IDES-), which includes a Doctorate and a Masters Degree in Social Science (which started in 2004 and 2005, respectively).

The Doctorate in Science and Technology started in 2005 with the aim of contributing to the training of human resources in Natural and Exact Sciences.

The academic offer of both postgraduate courses links the research teams of the University, whose members are postgraduate lecturers, with well-known specialists from other institutions, thus favouring a general theoretical training as well as a specialisation in research in specific fields.

Research

The Institute of Sciences accommodates a group of researchers who develop their tasks within a framework of diverse disciplines and fields of knowledge. Two of the factors that define the research area are linked with the researchers training fields and, particularly, with the quality of their work which is periodically evaluated. The Institute’ activities are based on the updating of knowledge and the advancement in interdisciplinary work.

Economists, sociologists, historians, philosophers, chemists, physicists and mathematicians work in the ICI. Many of them are also CONICET (National Council for Science and Technology) researchers. The projects they work on cover subjects such as labour market evolution, changes in the contemporary Argentinean society, cultural history in the 19th and 20th centuries, the function of the neuronal networks, mathematical applications, development of complex systems, philosophy of history, environmental chemistry or the process of Argentinean State formation. The diverse areas and research projects are linked to groups of other national and international institutions, and many of them are financed by the National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology (ANPCYT), CONICET, Foundations, international organisations, etc.

Teaching activities

The Institute has personnel with high academic qualifications who are in charge of the subjects taught in the General University Cycle. A large number of them are full time professors, which makes contact with the students easier, as well as better interaction possibilities. Optimal conditions are maintained during lectures, regarding the maximum number of students in each course, avoiding oversized classes, which can hinder the swift detection of difficulties in learning and allow for appropriate action. Periodically, surveys of students are carried out with the object of continuing the advancement of the teaching-learning process. Additionally, the Training Co-ordinator of the Institute holds consultations with the students in situations that require specific treatment.

The Institute has two labs for the physics, chemistry and biology subjects that facilitate the experimental learning of scientific contents in Natural Science. Additionally, there are IT suites for computing and IT subjects.

Services

The Institute of Sciences, through its research groups, develops diverse service initiatives for the community; especially it supports community social organisations and participates in the national and provincial educational network.Among other activities linked to the local society it also provides assistance to various productive enterprises and participates in the development of socio-economical index reports.

Researchers and Professors