Trabajo Fin de Máster (TFM) o Proyecto Fin de Carrera (PFC): Constricción temporal, trabajo colectivo y libertad programática en la ETSAM

Abstract

The Master in Architecture at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), known as Máster Habilitante (March) has been implemented at Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) since the 2015-2016 academic year. As part of its content, the Qualifying Master's Degree contemplates the preparation and presentation of a Trabajo Fin de Máster (TFM), which includes the declared continuity "of reason" of the old Trabajo Fin de Carrera (PFC) in the new teaching organization, according to expresses the current Curriculum (Plan 2010). The recent implementation of this new mode of access to the professional qualification of architects graduated from the UPM, as a consequence of the international homologation processes framed in the process initiated by the Bologna Declaration (1999), has produced an immediate but not always thoughtful comparative analysis with the previous system, that of the PFC. The objective of this paper is to provide an adequate conceptual framework for the comparison between Trabajo Fin de Máster (TFM) and Proyecto Fin de Carrera (PFC) at ETSAM, through the formulation of some of its pedagogical bases [1]. Among these, the role of the temporary constraint [2] assumed by the new system will be highlighted, in which the preparation of the TFM is associated with a period of a single year, as well as the group work dynamics associated with the idea of "classroom" , "laboratory" or Design Studio, which connect the new teaching methodology with well-known international experiences, from the Italian Laboratori di Laurea to the Dutch MSc Design Studios. The validity of the figures of the "teacher" and the "disciple", inspired by the mythical stories about the Renaissance workshop, and more generally the studentteacher relationship, must be critically reconsidered in the new situation, in which times and processes are subject to pre-established guidelines and controls [3]. On the other hand, and beyond the contrast with the PFC, the role that the definition of an architectural program or content plays in the development of the new TFM, as well as the possibility that its development is assimilated to a research process with original contributions that go beyond the concept of "demonstration" of professional skills.