VALORACIóN DEL PROFESORADO SOBRE LAS COMPETENCIAS GENéRICAS: SU EFECTO EN LA DOCENCIA

The development of generic competences in upper-level university education results from the demand from the job market. This study addresses the following questions now that the new curricula have been in place for three or four years: a) Does incorporating the general competencies into the curricula further increase the bureaucracy that so overwhelms teachers? b) Has there been a real change in the teaching/learning process based on the inclusion of these competences? c) What are the benefits of using information and communication technologies (e.g., Web 2.0) as a medium for integrating the knowledge society? d) Is it possible to differentiate among specific fields of knowledge when incorporating general competencies? We used data from an online study of 366 professors at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) representing various fields of study (art and humanities, science, health science, social science, law, and engineering/architecture) to address these questions. The results can be extrapolated to other universities and suggest the necessity of establishing a feedback system to aid decision making with regard to verification of degree requirements. Differentiation by subject area is not always clearly evidenced, except in the high valuation of these competencies in the fields of Health Sciences and Arts/Humanities. This finding stands in contrast to the fields of General Sciences and Engineering/Architecture, where these competencies are not highly valued.