Applicants should meet the following requirements:

1. Hold an honours degree in Chemistry, Physics or Material Science, or any other level accepted by the legislations of the respective European country. Applicants holding other science degrees may be accepted, as long as they complement their basic training in the area under the supervision of a tutor.
2. Hold a recognised English-language qualification with an equivalent mark of at least 213/500 for TOEFL or a 6 for IELTS.

As can be seen in the entry requirements, students must have an adequate knowledge of English to follow the intensive course in the second year of the degree, which will be taught in English.

There is also the possibility for students to complement their knowledge, thereby meeting the basics required for the course, during their first year and with subjects totalling a maximum of 15 ECTS credits.

Applicants who meet criteria a) and b) will be rated by the International Committee using the following criteria:

• Their CV.
• A letter explaining why they want to study the course.
• Two references.

The requirements and criteria are the same for European students as those from countries outside the EU.

Students will have to register at one of the universities of the consortium. Forms can be downloaded from the course’s web page: https://tccm.qui.uam.es/?page_id=1419

For further information:

• http://mtccm.qui.uam.es/?page_id=1405

The creation of this joint masters as two main objectives:

• Establish a European standard at postgraduate level.
• Promote international student mobility in the field of theoretical chemistry and molecular modelling. This idea is held by forty-seven European higher-education institutions, which decided to create a consortium and thereby achieve the approval of the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN), which supports this initiative.

These studies have to ensure:

• Access to continuing studies. This course provides access to PhD studies in the field of chemistry, physics, life sciences and material science, which provide an excellent opportunity to become a university lecturer or researcher in any research institution. On this point we should point out seven out of every 1000 workers are involved in R&D, far fewer than in Germany, France, Holland, Japan, the United States and Switzerland, which have more than twelve per 1000. In the Balearic Islands there are only two per 1000, which puts us in last place in the whole of Spain.
• Professional status.
  • As experts in computational techniques students should be able to apply any available scientific code to develop new codes.
  • They will be well adapted to molecular design, molecular and atomic aggregates and the study of chemical processes.
  • They will be good candidates for posts in the pharmaceutical industry, petrochemical companies and industries involving new materials.
  • They will also be well suited to working in any industry as experts in computational techniques (economics and finance, computation, IT, statistics, R&D, etc.).

The Masters in TCCM aims to create experts in the use and development of computational techniques in molecular science with applications in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical and new materials industries, as well as prepare students to go on to PhD studies in chemistry, physics, life sciences and material science. So, the course does not only prepare students for a PhD thesis in TCCM, but also for its application in wide-ranging fields from chemical reactivity, spectroscopy and catalysis to bioinformatics and material and polymer science.

Within objective a) the course will allow students to have the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with colleagues working in quite different applications, which is an important additional factor in their education. Also, the extensive network of laboratories in forty-seven institutions in eight countries ensures that the majority of applications and topics in this field will be covered. So, students will have a global vision, where a local and limited organisation would lead to a more fragmented and incomplete vision.

Within in objective b) the course guarantees 50% mobility, since the second year is normally carried out in a different country to that where M1 is studied. Furthermore during the second year students will have a further four-week period of mobility due to the intensive course. The fact that this intensive course is obligatory means that they will gain direct and specific knowledge, through their course-mates, of what is happening in each of the consortium institutions, and they will also have the opportunity to have the best teachers from eight European countries in their specialist area.

It should also be added that this course has a strong interdisciplinary character given that it covers the fundamental areas of chemistry: organic and inorganic chemistry, solid-state chemistry, spectroscopy, kinetic chemistry, catalysis, polymers, mass spectroscopy and molecular design, as well as fundamental areas of physics: atomic and molecular physics, condensed matter physics, and areas of biochemistry, bioinformatics, biological chemistry and medical chemistry.

Doctorate in chemistry, physics, life sciences and material science.

The course structure can be found in gazette edition BOE No. 157 - 02/07/2021 - res. 11042 [es] and is available on the programme website in the following section: 'Subjects'.

It is a 120-ECTS master’s programme run over two academic years (60 ECTS credits / year) and organised as follows:

Module 1 (1^st year, 60 ECTS):

• Mandatory subjects (35 ECTS)
• Elective subjects (25 ECTS)

Module 2 (2^nd year, 60 ECTS):

• Mandatory subjects (12 ECTS)
• Elective subjects (18 ECTS)
• Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS)

Assessment will be carried out by means of an exam designed by teachers of the intensive course and will be distributed to tutors at the various institutions, together with marking criteria to ensure parity across the board. Each tutor will assess students registered at his/her institution and the International Committee will ensure parity by analysing overall results.

The intensive course will be organised in a different country every year, chosen from amongst those participating in the course, thus following a rotational system.

Assessment will be carried out by means of an exam designed by teachers of the intensive course and will be distributed to tutors at the various institutions, together with marking criteria to ensure parity across the board. Each tutor will assess students registered at his/her institution and the International Committee will ensure parity by analysing overall results.

Dr. Joaquín Ortega Castro

Pueden encontrar el listado de profesores del máster en el enlace:

•  http://mtccm.qui.uam.es/?page_id=1418