The mission of the Universidad Iberoamericana, an institution entrusted to the care of Society of Jesus, is to:

Form professionals and investigators with an international projection, with humane and academic qualities and that are committed to serve others; and Develop and divulge knowledge to pursue a free, just, solidary and productive society.

In keeping with the above, the mission of the Health Department is to help develop and disseminate knowledge and train professionals and researchers in health and nutrition, continuously developing high-quality teaching programs of an international standard that are locally relevant.

General Objectives

Acquire comprehensive knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviors via a degree in Human Nutrition, Food Services and Food Science.

Propose, implement and assess a strategy for addressing a specific problem in any area of Clinical nutrition, food service or food science.

Specific objectives

• Assess the nutritional status of both healthy and diseased individuals using four types of indicators (anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary) in order to make a nutrition diagnosis.
• Implement individualized eating plans in accordance with a medical and nutrition diagnosis.
• Monitor the health and nutrition status of different types of patients.
• Provide nutrition counseling in order to promote health in individuals and their families.
• Get to know, and join, a community, and assess its nutrition status.
• Identify people within the community who are at risk or have nutrition problems and propose a solution.
• Implement a food-orientation program for the community, according to its needs.
• Identify food-service related areas such as purchasing, reception, warehousing, production, management, budgeting and human-resource management.
• Identify the available resources in a food service.
• Identify the responsibilities of a dietitian in a food service.
• Develop programs for working in different areas of a food service.
• Analyze the mechanisms by which foods are modified and exploited for human consumption, either directly or in the preparation of menus.

All the competencies are developed during rotations, with emphasis on the concentration area of Healthy lifestyle Promotion and Disease Prevention.

Supervised Practice Handbook International Coordinated Programa.

The accreditation and assessment of academic programs is one of the institutional strategies adopted in order to improve the academic level and guarantee program quality. In order to planning, implement and monitor the accreditation and evaluation processes, the Mexican authorities require plenty information and feedback.

The Ministry of Education (Spanish initials: SEP ) and the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education (Spanish initials: ANUIES) have recognized the Universidad Iberoamericana as a High-quality Institution, a title awarded to institutions with 75% of their students enrolled in accredited programs that are evaluated and assigned a Level-1 grade by the Inter-institutional Committee for the Evaluation of Education (Spanish initials: CIEES) and/or accredited by one of the national Quality-assurance Boards that are recognized by the Accreditation Board for Higher Education (Spanish initials COPAES), a non-governmental civic association whose mission is to help ensure that the academic programs offered in Mexican public and private institutions are of high quality, in accordance with the guidelines and general framework for the accreditation college-level academic programs that was set up by the Board itself.

The Bachelor of Nutrition and Food Science has 2 accreditations one international by de Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education (ACEND) and a national one by the Consejo Nacional para la Calidad de Programas Educativos en Nutriología (CONCAPREN).

Universidad Iberoamericana, Department of Health Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Food Science is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education of the American Dietetic Association,

120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000,
Chicago, IL 60606-6995, (312) 899-0040 ext 5400.

http://www.eatright.org/ACEND/

Universidad Iberoamericana, Department of Health Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Food Science is accredited by Consejo Nacional para la Calidad de Programas Educativos en Nutriología (CONCAPREN).

http://www.concapren.org.mx/index.php

• In 2006, the CP was accredited by ACEND.
• In 2007, the CP was evaluated by CIEES.
• In 2008 the CP was accredited by CONCAPREN.

Goal 1. Prepare graduates who have achieved competencies in nutrition and food science as entry-level dietitians, meeting the requirements of Commission of the Dietetics Registration, the credentialing agency for Dietitians in the United States and by Colegio Mexicano de Nutriólogos CMN (Mexican College of Nutritionist).

• 80% of the students enrolled in the CPD program will complete it within 6 years (ideally in 4.5 years).
• 70% of graduates will find employment in the field within six months of graduation.
• Over a three-year period, 80% of the graduates, who takes the CMN exam, will pass.
• 70% of the students that take Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition Graduation Exam (Examen General de Egreso de Licenciatura en Nutrición CENEVAL) obtain results equal to or greater than satisfactory.
• 80% of graduates, who are seeking the verification statement by an accredited program of the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics, will obtain it on the first sitting.

Goal 2. Prepare graduates that have the knowledge about nutrition care and demonstrate leader´s competencies and life-long learning in nutrition and food science field.

• 80% of the supervised practice preceptors are satisfied with graduate in work.
• 80% of the employers grade the performance of the graduates as satisfactory based on the specific and generic competencies.
• 85% of all graduates are satisfied with the training program in ethics and social service.
• 70% of graduates seeking advance /professional education are accepted.
• 85% of graduates will answer that they agree strongly that the CPD program promotes a desire for continued development as a self-learner.

Goals 3. Prepare graduates with a sense of civic and social responsibility that promote social transformation in communities.

• 90% of the graduates proposed a successful community program of benefit to groups in need during their social service.
• 80 % of all graduates have attitudes that demonstrate integrity and promote social transformation.
• 30% of graduates work for public services dedicated to care the people with fewer economic resources.

Emphasis

Develop nutrition interventions based on the planning and implementation of strategies for the promotion of healthy lifestyles in people, groups and populations.

Communicate effective scientific information based on evidences of food, nutrition and physical activities using methodologies and behavior change theories to facilitate the adoption of a healthy lifestyle at individual, group and population level.

Participate in multidisciplinary teams for the development of policies and food, nutrition, and physical activities programs, based on psychosocial, cultural and economic indicators, for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle in people, groups and populations.

Develop products, programs or services caring about the populations’ requirements, in compliance with guidelines and regulations.

Propose food product modifications based on the composition, structure and functions of the nutriments to promote health and contribute to the solution of pathological states.

The supervised practice experience is part of the curriculum of the program. It requires minimum of 1200 full time practice hours, day-time study which includes the necessary supervised practice hours (40-hours-per week for 30 weeks) aimed at providing students with practical experience in different fields, including Clinical Nutrition inpatient/outpatient, Community Nutrition, Food Service and Food Science, with an emphasis on Healthy-lifestyle promotion and disease treatment.

Supervised practices alternate between the provision of clinical-nutrition services to both health and sick people, groups and populations of various ages and with different physiological conditions in hospitals and community clinics and development in other areas where a knowledge of food science can be put to use, with each practice having its own specific objectives and activities aimed at covering the competencies of a Registered Dietitian (RD), which give the opportunity to take de RD exam, because de program has a “substantial equivalency”, by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). Each stage of the supervise practice involves specific periods and activities to be scheduled and assigned on an individual basis according to each student’s development and particular interests, with the guarantee that short internships rotations will all have duration of not less than 4 weeks - the minimum time required to be able to assess skills development. The schedule is full-time and the activities and the places to which students are assigned are varied, as are the academic, community-assistance, laboratory and research activities to be carried out. While supervised practices are generally during normal working hours (8 hours per day), they are programmed at the discretion of the preceptor and their hours and conditions may vary. Students need to be flexible in order to assure that their internship hours coincide with the preceptor’s ability to supervise them.

Upon completing their Human Nutrition Internship and the Food Internship assignments, all students must have completed and passed all the developmental areas of the internship in order to be able to take their examination for the final degree. If they fail one of the rotations, they have to repeat the area that they have failed, and improve the competencies and work done.