Blanquerna-URL and La Salle Campus Barcelona, both founding members of the Ramon Llull University (URL), will start a new degree in Health Engineering in the 2022-2023 academic year, the first in Spain that combines a complete education in engineering, health sciences, management and innovation. The program, which is characterized by a humanistic and ethical vision with a healthcare vocation, will respond to the growing demand for engineering professionals with knowledge in biomedicine and health sciences to improve individualized care for patients and the promotion of the health and well-being of people.

The program is designed with the endorsement of Blanquerna-URL's long history in teaching studies related to health, through the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences, and the experience of La Salle-URL in the education of engineers, through the La Salle Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSELS). The degree in Health Engineering will train students in the application of classic engineering disciplines to help solve problems in the field of health.

A program to improve the quality of healthcare and with a direct positive impact on society and people

The new degree in Health Engineering is born in a social context in which the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of all sectors, including the health sector. The progressive digitization of the management of the health field in recent months has shown that technology has come to the sector to stay. In this line, the degree in Health Engineering wants to have an impact on the quality of health care, training professionals capable of understanding and interacting with health needs by applying the knowledge and experience of engineers, who will be key players in the development of more and better digital health and telemedicine tools.

Data science, bioinformatics and medical technologies for a more personalized medicine and a better accompaniment of people

The health sector will find in the professionals educated in this degree answers to many of its great current and future challenges, such as personalized medicine, enabling individualized treatment of people and not so much of diseases, and healthy ageing. Thanks to their knowledge in data science, bioinformatics and the design of electronic systems for medical instrumentation, health engineers will help in the development of better diagnostic and health promotion tools, as well as in the deployment of technological infrastructures in hospital settings.

Small groups, international focus and transversal projects

The degree in Health Engineering will have a teaching methodology based on three pillars: interaction, immersion and innovation. The program, like the other degrees at La Salle-URL and Blanquerna-URL, will be taught in small groups to encourage learning and personalized monitoring of each student. The visits and seminars will serve to learn first-hand about the reality of the profession, the work with real projects will reinforce the innovative and entrepreneurial character of the students, as well as the external internships and the study tour in the United States, included in the program, will be the best tool to understand the sector from a global perspective.

The students will also be trained in collaborative and multidisciplinary work thanks to the transversal projects that they will share with students from other areas of knowledge at La Salle-URL —such as Architecture, Management and Philosophy— and from other Blanquerna-URL studios, such as Nursing, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Pharmacy. The four-year degree will be taught in Catalan and Spanish in the first years and in English in the second cycle, reinforcing the international character and global focus of the program.