A course guide describes a subject taught on a degree programme. At UVic a course guide provides a general overview of the subject. It generally includes information such as learning objectives, learning outcomes, methodology, types of classes, assessment criteria, reading lists and the ECTS credits. It covers every aspect of the learning students must acquire and the assessment activities they must complete in order to pass the subject.

This style guide is loosely based on the Interuniversity Style Guide for Writing Course Guides in English, first published in 2021 by the Xarxa Vives Language Quality Group (English), updated to take into account the stipulations of Spanish Decree 822/2021 on the Organisation of University Courses . Its scope is UVic, that is, recognised bachelor’s degree courses, “graus” in Catalan, offered by the teaching centres of the Balmes University Foundation in Vic: the Faculty of Business and Communication Studies; the Faculty of Education, Translation, Sport and Psychology; the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering; and the Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare. It may also be of service other UVic-UCC centres, at least for purposes of orientation and comparison. The guide is designed principally for lecturers tasked with preparing these guides, whether by translating or by drafting directly in English. It may also be useful for course coordinators, language services staff and freelance translators. It provides definitions of learning objectives and learning outcomes, as well as practical advice on how to write and present them. It also provides guidance on how to write and present course content and examines certain aspects of language use.

Course guides are written by lecturers in their capacity as teachers of the subjects in question. As experts in their field who have teaching experience, they establish which skills their students need to develop in order to complete the assessment activities, and what knowledge they expect their students to acquire.

Course guides may be slightly different in format and content in different Catalan universities. First and foremost, the guia docent (or pla docent) may be called a course guide, a course plan or a teaching plan. The term competències might be translated as either competences or competencies. In line with the latest EU documents we prefer competences. The continguts of a course may be referred to as content, contents or topics (we recommend content). The words subject and course are used interchangeably: we prefer subject in this context. On the other hand, the translations for objectius (d’aprenentatge) and resultats d’aprenentatge are fairly standard: for the first, objectives; and for the second, learning outcomes.