This website uses cookies

The website of the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya uses its own and third-party cookies to improve the browsing experience and for statistical purposes. For more information about cookies you can consult the cookie policy.

Manage cookies
Allow all cookies
Campus
MY_TECH_SPACE


Go
Login and password recovery
Campus in maintenance
User and / or password incorrect
You have no active environment
Your access has been restricted. Consultation with the department of administration
Due to technical problems, the virtual campus is inaccessible. We are working to solve it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
You are not authorized to make this call. You can consult webmaster.fpc@fpc.upc.edu
You have exceeded the maximum number of attempts. Your user is temporarily blocked. Check back in a little while.
You must enter your campus username, not an email
You have to perform the verification to verify that you are not a robot.
Home   >  Master's & postgraduate courses  >  Education  >  Postgraduate course in Software Quality Assurance
We advise you! Request information or admission
  • Presentation
  • Training Content
  • Learning methodology
  • Teaching team
  • Associates entities
  • Career opportunities
  • Request information or admission

Presentation

Information 2024-2025 edition
The 2024-2025 edition of the postgraduate course has already begun. Shortly we will publish updated information about the new edition of this programme.
Edition
8th Edition
Credits
20 ECTS (172 teaching hours)
Delivery
Face-to-face
Language of instruction
Catalan / Spanish
Fee
€4,100
Special conditions on payment of enrolment fee and 0,7% campaign
Registration open until the beginning of the course or until end of vacancies.
Next course
November of 2025
Timetable
Tuesday: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Thursday: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Taught at
Tech Talent Center
C/ de Badajoz, 73-77
Barcelona
Why this postgraduate course?

The World Quality Report 2023-24(*) concludes that ensuring software quality has a direct impact on business assurance, brand protection, robustness, digital experience, and business results. Software is part of most daily activities today, in a transversal manner and with a high level of complexity. For this reason, software errors have a high economic and social impact on businesses, institutions, and society in general. Thus, the need to ensure good software quality management (Software Quality Assurance - SQA) has been evidenced in various examples in recent history, where the consequences of these errors have been of great significance.

An inadequate SQA strategy increases the risk of errors and as a result, the consequences for users and for organisations responsible for the software, which can have a major impact in some cases (millions of euros in losses, diplomatic conflicts, loss of human life, etc). The effects are varied and can range from income and business volume to reputation. For this reason, software quality engineering is key in risk management for organizations.

Today, the search for flexibility in the development process and the continuous delivery of applications also affects software quality strategies. A reduced time-to-market is an essential requirement in many software engineering contexts, which must be combined with management of a broad-based quality process. This involves various activities, ranging from defining the requirements of a system to its maintenance and delivery, through quality assurance in its development and the application of testing techniques (manual or automated) enabling the systems to be validated from various perspectives (functional, security, performance, usability, etc.)

The techniques for ensuring quality also evolve and require facilitators with business, technical, and quality vision. There is also innovation evolution in this field. According to the same World Quality Report, 77% of organizations are investing in Artificial Intelligence to improve processes, with a focus on software quality.

This postgraduate programme aims to train professionals with a profile of experience combined strategic project management and the technical expertise required for quality assurance in software development, maintenance and processing projects. The market demands that companies have engineers qualified in this field. For this reason, the UPC School has designed this postgraduate program, which is primarily in collaboration with Sogeti, part of the Capgemini group, and the best professionals in the sector.

The program offers the possibility of internships in Sogeti España. During this period, the student will be able to expand and implement the knowledge acquired in class and extend their professional network within the sector.

Students will need to have a laptop with a Windows operating system for the practical sessions of the postgraduate program and for the additional work to be done outside of class hours.

A minimum intermediate level of English is required to take full advantage of the programme.

(*) World Quality Report 2023-24, Sogeti-Capgemini-Open Text

Promoted by:
Aims
  • To train engineers specialising in SQA.
  • To meet the need for this professional profile in today's software engineering market, in which there are challenges such as reducing maintenance costs, reaction to ongoing changes, investment in improvement processes in software projects, the consolidation of quality assurance activities, a cross-disciplinary perspective, etc.

Who is it for?
  • Graduates in computer engineering and related degrees and/or professional experience in software engineering.

Training Content

List of subjects
1 ECTS 16h
Introduction & Requirements Engineering
  • Purpose and motivation of the quality assurance systems software.
  • Software economics and ROI.
  • Short review of software engineering methods.
  • History and case studies.
  • Ensuring software quality as a cross-wise activity.
  • Requirements Engineering as a base for Software Quality Assurance.
  • Specification techniques (requirements in natural language, use cases, models, business process models and user stories).
  • Prototyping.
  • Business-driven development (BDD).
  • Model-driven engineering (MDE).
  • Acceptance criteria & validation techniques.
  • Prioritization.
  • RE in different domains: embedded software, off-the-shelf, Internet & mobile, government, health care, banking, etc.
  • Tool-based hands-on exercises.
6 ECTS 68h
Software Testing
  • Introduction and motivation.
  • History, evolution and challenges of testing.
  • Testing levels (unit testing, system testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, performance testing, usability testing, sanity testing, security testing).
  • Testing types (smoke testing, functional testing, regression testing).
  • Tests design techniques.
  • Coverage and impact analysis.
  • Beta testing/ alpha testing.
  • Testing & knowledge management.
  • Security testing.
  • Test automation.
  • Testing in regulated environments.
  • Testing in different domains.
  • Testing of APIs.
  • Tool-based hands-on exercises.
2 ECTS 20h
Quality in Software Engineering
  • Quality Assurance in Software Development Methodologies.
  • Quality models and standards (CMMI, ISO, ...).
  • Code inspections & reviews.
  • Knowledge and Technical Debt.
4 ECTS 24h
Quality in Agile Methods
  • User stories.
  • Test-driven development (TDD).
  • Extreme Programming (XP).
  • Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD).
  • Tool-based hands-on exercises.
1 ECTS 12h
DevOps and Continuous Integration
  • DevOps. Continuous integration and continuous delivery.
  • Customer support.
  • Software and product maintenance (ticketing, bug tracking, escalation).
  • Transformation projects.
  • Tool-based hands-on exercises.
2 ECTS 28h
Cross-Wise Software Quality Management
  • Definition of a Software Quality strategy.
  • Risks management.
  • Decision matrices and KPIs.
  • Project Management Professional (PMP).
  • Roadmaps.
  • Existing tools for cross-wise Quality Management.
  • Tool-based hands-on exercises.
4 ECTS 4h
Course Project

The final project will be based on the following characteristics:

  • It will be a contribution in the context of a real project of a company.
  • It will be a way to promote technical innovation and to improve the quality assurance practices, taking the contents of the program as a base.

The project can be done individually or in previously defined gorups. It will be advised by a standing project manager.

Degree
Postgraduate qualification in Software Quality Assurance, issued by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Issued by virtue of the provisions of art. 7.1 of Organic Law 2/2023 of 22 March, concerning the University System, and art. 36 of Royal Decree 822/2021 of 28 September, which establishes the organisation of university education and the procedure for ensuring its quality. A prior official university qualification is necessary to obtain it. Otherwise, the student will receive a certificate of completion of the programme issued by the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya. Lifelong learning studies at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya are approved by the University's Governing Council on an annual basis. (See details appearing on the certificate).

Learning methodology

The teaching methodology of the programme facilitates the student's learning and the achievement of the necessary competences.



Learning tools
Participatory lectures
A presentation of the conceptual foundations of the content to be taught, promoting interaction with the students to guide them in their learning of the different contents and the development of the established competences.
Practical classroom sessions
Knowledge is applied to a real or hypothetical environment, where specific aspects are identified and worked on to facilitate understanding, with the support from teaching staff.
Solving exercises
Solutions are worked on by practising routines, applying formulas and algorithms, and procedures are followed for transforming the available information and interpreting the results.
Case studies
Real or hypothetical situations are presented in which the students, in a completely participatory and practical way, examine the situation, consider the various hypotheses and share their own conclusions.
Success stories
Outstanding business knowledge and experiences with high added value acquired during an outstanding professional career are presented and shared.
Visits
These visits are to specialist centres, companies in the sector or outstanding and important locations in the sector, in order to obtain knowledge in situ of development, production and demonstration environments within the programme.
Problem-based learning (PBL)
An active learning methodology that enables the student to be involved from the beginning, and to acquire knowledge and skills by considering and resolving complex problems and situations.
Business Game
Game thinking and its mechanics are used to solve certain problems or to make decisions, in order to motivate students in the learning process and to provide some results for analysis.
Tutorship
Students are given technical support in the preparation of the final project, according to their specialisation and the subject matter of the project.
Assessment criteria
Attendance
At least 80% attendance of teaching hours is required.
Level of participation
The student's active contribution to the various activities offered by the teaching team is assessed.
Solving exercises, questionnaires or exams
Individual tests aimed at assessing the degree of learning and the acquisition of competences.
Work out projects
Studies on a specific topic, by individuals or groups, in which the quality and depth of the work is assessed, among other factors.
Completion and presentation of the final project
Individual or group projects in which the contents taught in the programme are applied. The project can be based on real cases and include the identification of a problem, the design of the solution, its implementation or a business plan. The project will be presented and defended in public.
Work placements & employment service
Students can access job offers in their field of specialisation on the My_Tech_Space virtual campus. Applications made from this site will be treated confidentially. Hundreds of offers of the UPC School of Professional & Executive Development employment service appear annually. The offers range from formal contracts to work placement agreements.
Virtual campus
The students on this postgraduate course will have access to the My_ Tech_Space virtual campus - an effective platform for work and communication between the course's students, lecturers, directors and coordinators. My_Tech_Space provides the documentation for each training session before it starts, and enables students to work as a team, consult lecturers, check notes, etc.

Teaching team

Academic management
  • Sancho Samsó, Maria Ribera
    Sancho Samsó, Maria Ribera
    info
    View profile in futur.upc
    Former dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and lecturer in the Department of Service and Information System Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).
  • Sancho Samsó, Maria Ribera
    Tort Pugibet, Albert
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    He is currently the Secretary for Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Sogeti Spain. He was also a researcher and professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) where he specialized in software engineering and quality assurance. He presented the doctoral thesis Testing and test-driven development of conceptual schemas. He is the author of several publications in specialized journals and has participated in international conferences.
Teaching staff
  • Álvarez Diz, Isaac
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    Computer engineer with an extensive experience in the software quality industry. Currently, he is the associate director QA engineering in Novartis, where he is in charge of quality politics and collaborates on the digital transformation of the organization. He is a specialist in implementation and improvement of processes, tools and techniques for both test and quality assurance, tasks he has carried out in many  national and international organizations. All this combines with his assiduous participation in publications and specialized presentations.
  • Escudero Sabadell, Xavier
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    Computer Engineer from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Certified in Testing Advanced Manager by the International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB), Agile Testing by the International Software Quality Institute (ISQI) and Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) by Scrum.org. Expert in the implementation of methodologies, software quality and testing.
  • Estañol Lamarca, Montserrat
    info

    PhD in Computer Science and Computer engineer from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Professor of subjects related to software engineering at the UPC and at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. She has worked in the private sector as a researcher and system administrator. Her research has focused on conceptual modelling, business process modelling following an artifact-centric perspective and automatic reasoning in conceptual schemes and business process models. Currently, she has her own project for the creation and maintenance of websites.
  • Lomascolo Szittyay, Rodolfo
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    Industrial Engineer by the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). Co-founder of Pervasive Technologies. He has more than twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur and in managerial positions in Spain and abroad, with a strong technical background, always related to the software industry and an orientation towards innovation. He currently directs and participates in the development of predictive models at Pervasive Technologies for demand prediction, customer retention, fraud control and in particular, for the analysis of images using neural networks (deep learning).
  • Malservisi, Giorgio
    info

    He has a degree in electronics engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan (2000) and postgraduate degree in Business Administration and Management with "great distinction" from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2012). He works as IT Service Delivery Manager at the company Sogeti Spain, in the Software Control & Testing department. He has worked in various sectors in the software and electronics industry as a specialist in managing the lifecycle of products.
  • Perez Macasaet, Ray James
    info
    View profile in Linkedin View profile in Google Scholar
    PhD in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Granada (UGR). He has more than 20 years of experience in software development management, with teams distributed all over the world. He is currently lead consultant at Thoughtworks.com, a world leading technology consultancy that integrates strategy, design and software engineering to enable business and technology.
  • Pradel Miquel, Jordi
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    Computer engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). In 2005 he founded Agilogy, a company specialising in the agile development of custom-made software, where he helps combined teams from Agilogy and the client to successfully implement agile software development methodologies in technologically complex and rapidly changing environments, using functional programming and Scrum, Kanban and XP techniques, among others.
  • Ramírez Pérez, Inmaculada
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    Telecommunications Engineer and Master in Business Management from Miguel Hernández University. After 5 years as Technical Director in Barcelona at Sogeti Spain, where she managed a Quality Engineering team of more than 60 people, in 2023 she took on the role of Automation Service Manager at ServiZurich. She has more than ten years of experience in the field of software quality assurance, as well as in the execution and management of functional and non-functional testing projects for multinational clients in various areas where quality is key to the success of the service.
  • Rello Saltor, Manuel
    info

    Computer Engineer from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He has dedicated his professional life to the development of videogames for mobile phones and consoles. Having been for more than 5 years chief engineer in triple-A projects in multidisciplinary teams of more than 100 people, he is now embarking on the foundation of his own game studio.
  • Sancho Samsó, Maria Ribera
    info
    View profile in futur.upc
    Former dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and lecturer in the Department of Service and Information System Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).
  • Tort Pugibet, Albert
    info
    View profile in Linkedin
    He is currently the Secretary for Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Sogeti Spain. He was also a researcher and professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) where he specialized in software engineering and quality assurance. He presented the doctoral thesis Testing and test-driven development of conceptual schemas. He is the author of several publications in specialized journals and has participated in international conferences.

Associates entities

Strategic partners
  • SOGETI ESPAÑA SLU
    • Participates in the design of the contents of the programme, and ensures they are appropriate to the needs of the professional sphere.
    • Offers professional internships for students on the programme.
    • Provides teachers and lecturers.
    • Disseminates the programme in the professional sphere and area of expertise.
Collaborating partners

Career opportunities

  • Test engineer.
  • Quality assurance manager.
  • Development process consultant.
  • Consultant of transformation and improvement projects.

Request information or admission

Information and guidance:
Olga Garrán González
(34) 93 112 08 67
Request received!
After we have registered your request, you will receive confirmation by email and we will be in touch.

Thank you for your interest in our training programmes.
Error
Due to an error in the connection to the database, your submission has not been processed. Please try again later, phone us on (34) 93 112 08 08, or send us an email at: webmaster.fpc@fpc.upc.edu
You have exceeded the maximum size of the file
Please check your payment details. The platform has returned an error.
You can make the payment again without re-entering the data.

Name:

Course: Software Quality Assurance

Fee: €4,100

Submit and make the payment
  • If you have any doubts about the postgraduate course.
  • If you want to start the registration procedure.
How to start admission
To start the enrolment process for this programme you must complete and send the form that you will find at the bottom of these lines.

Next you will receive a welcome email detailing the three steps necessary to formalize the enrolment procedure:

1. Complete and confirm your personal details.

2. Validate your curriculum vitae and attach any additional required documentation, whenever this is necessary for admission.

3. Pay €110 in concept of the registration fee for the programme. This fee will be discounted from the total enrolment fee and will only be returned when a student isn't admitted on a programme.

Once the fee has been paid and we have all your documentation, we will assess your candidacy and, if you are admitted on the course, we will send you a letter of acceptance. This document will provide you with all the necessary information to formalize the enrolment process for the programme.





  date protection policy

* Mandatory fields

Basic information or first layer on data protection

Controller

Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya (FPC). + INFORMATION

Purpose of processing

Respond to requests for information from the data subjects on training activities managed or carried out by the FPC. + INFORMATION

Establishment or maintenance of the academic relationship with the data subject. + INFORMATION

Send information on the activities of the FPC. + INFORMATION

Legitimation

Data subject's consent. + INFORMATION

Legitimate interest in the development of the academic relationship. + INFORMATION

Addressees

No assignments or communications.

Rights

Access, rectification, erasure, restriction, object and data portability. + INFORMATION

Data protection officer contact details

info.dpo@fpc.upc.edu

Additional information

Privacy policy of our website. + INFORMATION

Storage limitation

Privacy policy of our website. + INFORMATION

Payment services

In the event that the data subject enters into a formal relationship with the FPC, the data subject authorises and consents to the charge, thereby expressly waiving the right to a refund of the charge.

ACADEMIC AND ECONOMIC REGULATIONS

The Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya reserves the right to modify content, price, location, timetable and dates prior to the start of the course. Registration on the course will not be confirmed until payment has been made.

Registration rights. The interested party must make payment of the specified registration fee for the course. This fee will be deducted from the full course fee and will only be reimbursed if the applicant is not admitted.

Cancellation or deferment.The Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya reserves the right to cancel or defer a course if the minimum number of students is not met. In case of cancellation or non-admittance, the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya will return all amounts paid in full, without any additional compensation. In case of deferment, applicants may request reimbursement of fees paid.

Cancellation of registration.
In the event of withdrawal or cancellation of the registration, the student must notify the UPC School in writing beforehand.
  • If this request for cancellation is made 45 days before the start of the programme, the UPC School will retain only 30% of the total registration fee and refund the difference paid.
  • In the event that the application request is made within 45 calendar days and the beginning of the programme, the UPC School will retain 60% of the registration fee.
  • No applications for refunds may be made after the programme has started.
Under exceptional circumstances, refunds of the registration fee will be made if the student's cancellation is due to one of the following circumstances:
  • Denial of a visa, subject to submission of supporting documentation. In this case, the UPC School will refund the registration fee less 300 Euros for administrative expenses.
  • Serious illness or accident accredited by an official medical certificate, stating the start date of the illness and the anticipated convalescence period. In this situation the UPC School's decision will be as follows:
    • If the notification takes place up to one month after the start of the programme, it will refund the amount actually paid, less 300 Euros as administrative expenses.
    • No refunds will be made after a month after the start of the programme. It will be only be possible to use the amount paid as a deposit for the registration fee of the next programme. This procedure entails no administrative fee for the student. The price difference between the new registration fee and the amount previously paid will be payable by the student under all circumstances.

Changes in registration. Any changes in registration, previously authorised by the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya, will incur a 300 € administration fee.

Discounts.
  • Discounts are non-accumulable. The greater discount of those requested will be applied.
  • Discounts can only be applied under prior application and approval.
  • Once registration has been confirmed, no discount will be applied.
  • Students are responsible for placing applications for any discounts.

Qualification. In order to obtain the Qualification/Diploma issued by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the student must be in possession of a recognised university qualification or internal university qualification equivalent to a degree or diploma. If this is not the case, the student will receive a certificate of completion for the course, issued by the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya. Students with outstanding payments due to the Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya or who has not approved all the credits necessary to overcome the program before the date of completion of this program will not be eligible to receive any qualification, diploma or certificate.

Barcelona, October 31, 2017


Send
  • Bureau Verutas
  • EUCEN
  • RECLA
  • RUEPEP
© Fundació Politècnica de Catalunya - Legal advice - Política de cookies - Date privacity policy