Bachelor in Biomedical Engineering

• Program modified in 2024. In 2025/26 will be offered 1st 2nd and 3rd year.

• Plan area: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering and telecommunication engineering.

• To find out the final list of electives available for enrolment and their corresponding semester, please consult the following link in the Secretaría Virtual.

Study plan for students who started in the academic year 2023/24 or earlier.

• In 2025/26 only 4th year will be offered

• To find out the final list of electives available for enrolment and their corresponding semester, please consult the following link in the Secretaría Virtual.

Exchange programs

The Erasmus programme permits UC3M first degree and post graduate students to spend one or several terms at one of the European universities with which UC3M has special agreements or take up an Erasmus Placement, that is a work placement or internship at an EU company. These exchanges are funded with Erasmus Grants which are provided by the EU and the Spanish Ministry of Education.

The non-european mobility program enables UC3M degree students to study one or several terms in one of the international universities with which the university has special agreements. It also has funding from the Banco Santander and the UC3M.

These places are offered in a public competition and are awarded to students with the best academic record and who have passed the language threshold  (English, French, German etc..) requested by the university of destination.

European mobility

Non european mobility

Entry profile

The student must have a solid prior education, particularly in mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. Observational and analytical skills, capacity and speed in mathematical calculations and quantifiable problem solving, as well as logical and abstract reasoning are also very important. Moreover, it is advisable to possess the capability to establish relationships between observable reality and its description through mathematical models.

Personal attitudes of initiative, ability to cooperate on a team, individual work organization, ability to work under pressure, leadership, responsibility and interest in the practical application of knowledge in order to solve real problems are highly valued Finally, manual skills in instrument or equipment handling will be widely used during the years of study and afterwards.

The subjects with more weight for students seeking this degree are: Technical Drawing II , Physics, Mathematics II , Biology and Chemistry. It is highly recommended that students entering this degree have completed the Bachelor of Science and Technology.

Other possible access to the Grade is through an Associates Degree, also entering university with a 14 points mark, composed by a General phase (the final averaged grade of the Associates Degree) and a Specific phase (a test on two specific courses, weighing 0.1 or 0.2, under the same conditions and with the same agendas that high school students)

Application for a place in the degree

Graduate profile

The goal of training in Biomedical Engineering is to provide graduates with the knowledge, techniques, abilities and attitudes necessary for this profession and is summarized in the following general objectives:

1.     Training which provides the graduate with a solid scientific foundation to fully meet the professional challenges of the biomedical sector.
2.     Promoting the capabilities and competences aimed at problem solving, initiative, decision making, creativity, analysis and critical reasoning.
3.     Providing the necessary technological knowledge that will allow the graduate to tackle problems in the field of biology.
4.     Preparing graduates to carry out a unified scientific approach in matters related to biology, medicine and technology.
5.     Training professionals who are able to apply the concepts of engineering to the fields of biology and health.
6.     Preparing graduates in a variety of social, interpersonal, emotional and work competences within a multidisciplinary and international environment.
7.     Providing graduates with technical skills and the sensitivity that will allow them to promote, organize and carry out innovations in the area of biomedical engineering.
8.     Providing the know-how to use clinical and biomedical instruments to obtain, organize and interpret scientific and health information.
9.     Giving the necessary foundation for independent learning, or for further study of a postgraduate degree, enabling students to engage in in-depth academic pursuits and/or specialize in different fields of biomedical engineering.
10.     Fomenting personal development in all its facets: scientific, cultural, and human. etc., resulting in a greater critical capacity and deeper understanding of problems, leading to an exercise of freedom, with respect for legal pluralism and a spirit of solidarity, to create spaces of equality, coexistence and friendship.
11.     Fostering the social values inherent in a peaceful society, contributing to democratic coexistence, respect for human rights and basic principles such as fairness and equality.

It is noteworthy that this degree will provide students with capabilities that have an increasing demand in a national and international context, and require an attitude of constant updating, national and international collaboration, multidisciplinary communication and ethical commitment to society.

Depending on the chosen path, the degree will also provide more specific skills related to the chosen intensification: Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, biomedical imaging and biomedical instrumentation.

The profile of graduates enable them to work in very different fields, including the  Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology business world, the hospital system, public or private biomedical research centers and public administration.

Professional outlets:

Graduates are entering different companies in the biomedical engineering field, such as pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, hospitals and research centers as well as renowned European and American masters to continue their training. Moreover, some research projects are carried out in the Carlos III university, by graduates in Biomedical Engineering, both with funded college scholarships, from national or international funds, as well as with private funds.

1. Knowledge of Titles

K1 - To know the principles and values of democracy and sustainable development, in particular, respect for human rights and fundamental rights, gender equality and non-discrimination, the principles of universal accessibility and climate change.

K2 - To know basic humanistic contents, oral and written expression, following ethical principles and completing a multidisciplinary training profile.

K3 - To know the fundamentals of basic scientific and technical subjects in the field of biomedical engineering, which enable to learn new methods and technologies, as well as provide great versatility to adapt to new situations.

K4 - To know the principles on economic, organizational and management issues in the field of work of a biomedical engineer in companies, industries, healthcare, or biomedical research centers.

K5 - To know the standards, good practice codes, regulatory framework, and legislation and to be able to apply them to the development of projects in bioengineering and advanced therapies, being aware of the responsibility of the practice of their profession.

K6 - To understand the existing techniques in signal processing and the theoretical bases of electrical circuits and dynamic systems that allow the analysis and conceptual design of electronic devices to solve problems in biology and medicine.

K7 - To know the structure, composition, processing, properties and behavior of the different families of materials and biomaterials, their interrelationships and the response of the organism to biomaterials and implants, and to be able to select them based on their applications in biomedicine.

K8 - To understand the fundamental principles of molecular, cellular, structural and biochemical biology and their applications in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

K9 - To know the fundamentals of micromanufacturing, microfluidics, nano and biotechnology, 3D printing, bioreactors and organ and tissue reconstruction techniques and use them to solve complex biomedical problems in regenerative medicine.

K10 - To know the necessary fundamentals of human physiology that allow them to interact with interdisciplinary environments, understand the basis for the use of diagnostic and therapeutic medical technologies, and to solve problems in medicine from a bioengineering point of view.

K11 - To understand the most common concepts and techniques in the obtention and processing of biomedical images, as well as artificial vision, and to apply them to the resolution of problems of biological and medical interest, with special emphasis in the diagnosis by medical imaging.

K12 - To understand the techniques used in the design of medical devices and the instruments that compose them, allowing their development for medical applications, such as surgical instruments, electromechanical microdevices, robots and micro- and nanometric-sized biosensors.

2. Skills of Titles

S1 - To plan and organize team work making the right decisions based on available information and gathering data in digital environments.

S2 - To use information interpreting relevant data avoiding plagiarism, and in accordance with the academic and professional conventions of the area of study, being able to assess the reliability and quality of such information.

S3 - To analyze and synthesize basic problems related to bioengineering and biomedical sciences, solving them with initiative, appropriate decision making and creativity and communicating solutions efficiently, including social, ethical, health and safety, environmental, economic and industrial implications.

S4 - Draw up a scientific-technical project in the field of Bioengineering with the appropriate methodology and in accordance with the regulations in force and with respect for ethical principles.

S5 - To analyse scientific and technical information for decision-making in the field of biomedical engineering by keeping abreast of new developments.

S6 - To solve mathematical, physical, chemical, biological and biochemistry problems that may arise in biomedical engineering, knowing how to interpret the results obtained and reach informed conclusions.

S7 - Solve those problems characteristic of fluid and solid mechanics and the theory of transport of momentum, heat, mass, etc. in continuous media in biomedicine, knowing how to interpret the results obtained and arrive at well-founded conclusions.

S8 - Solve problems characteristic of biology, medicine, physics and chemistry, implementing numerical algorithms in modern programming languages using information obtained from databases.

S9 - To handle bioinformatics techniques, programming languages and environments, and basic concepts of artificial intelligence for the development and application of data analysis tools in biomedicine and for the resolution of complex problems in biology and medicine.

3. Competences of Titles

C1 - Be able to handle interpersonal skills on initiative, responsibility, conflict resolution, negotiation, etc., required in the professional environment.

C2 - To be able to analyze complex and multidisciplinary problems from the global point of view of biomedical engineering, promoting their own continuous training and the development of their professional activity independently.

C3 - Be able to transmit knowledge both orally and in writing, to a specialised and non-specialised audience, working in multidisciplinary and international teams.

C4 - To develop, organize and plan their work by making the right decisions based on available information, gathering and interpreting relevant data to make judgments within their area of study.

C5 - To understand the ethical, social, environmental, economic and professional responsibility of the biomedical engineer's activity.

External internships

This is a selection where students of this degree can do their internships.

• Azurebio
• Aglaris
• Biodan
• Bristol-Myers
• CNIC
• General Electric
• Indra
• Medtronic
• Sanofi
• John Hopkings
• Georgia Tech
• Fundación Centro Nac Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III
• Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario La Paz
• Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT)
• 3BS Research Group
• Siemens Healthcare S.L.U
• Instituto de Salud Carlos III
• Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
• Avanade Spain S.L.U.
• Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz (IISFJD)
• Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Gregorio Marañon
• Asociación Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Biocruces
• Hospital Nacional de Paraplégicos de Toledo
• Philips Ibérica S.A.U.

Career Opportunities

Within the areas of work associated with Biomedical Engineering we find:

• Companies or companies in charge of the design of medical therapy equipment, diagnostics, monitoring of medical instruments. Companies providing health services, evaluation and transfer of biomedical technologies.
• Design and manufacture of new drugs or therapies in pharmaceutical companies.
• Work in hospitals as part of the clinical engineering service, improvement of therapeutic treatments and instruments, study and analysis of image data.
• Consulting companies with projects in the bio-health field.
• Research centers as part of projects for the design of novel therapies or new diagnostic methods and instruments.

Link to the list of the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies.

Current program

Schedule in bachelor's degree

Academic calendar

Exams calendar (first semester)

Exams calendar (second semester)

Exams calendar (recovery tests)

Previous program

Schedule in bachelor's degree

Academic calendar

Exams calendar (first semester)

Exams calendar (second semester)

Exams calendar (recovery tests)