Higher education and
professional work
José-Ginés Mora
Technical University of Valencia, Spain
Higher education and work:
the key questions
 To what extent should HE focus on
enhancement of knowledge and individual
development without explicit regard of their
professional roles?
 To what extent should HE deliver the
competences which seem to be on demand by
employment system or should HE prepare
graduates to become active agents of innovation
and change?
 Should study prepare graduates for a wide range
of occupations or should it to be highly
specialized?
Index
1. Higher education and work: The
traditional relationship
2. What has changed in the workplace?
3. The answer of the educational system
4. Some experiences of new trends
The traditional workplace
Professions were “well-defined”
Basic knowledge required in jobs barely
changed along working life
Skills were specific to each profession
(even, position)
Few connections among professions
Low proportion of highly educated
workers
The traditional educational model
Training for “well-defined” professions
Teaching “the whole state of the art” in
each discipline
Training for specific skills
Not special need of flexibility/adaptability
to new situations or problems
Teachers, the main actors of the process
Students came from the “elite”
Three traditional models of
higher education
Humboldtian model (German)
 Objective: general knowledge
Napoleonic model (French)
 Objective: training professionals
British model
 Objective: more focused on individual
development
Emphasis made by the institution on...
(Scale 0 to 10)
Theories, concepts or paradigms
Regular class attendance
Teacher as the main source of information
Freedom to choose courses
Independent learning
Facts and instrumental knowledge
Project and problem-based learning
Attitudes and socio-communicative skills
Direct acquisition of work experience
8.1
6.1
6.0
4.6
4.5
4.0
3.9
3.2
1.9
Rating of the study experience
Contacts w ith fellow students
7.3
Course content of m ajor
5.5
Teaching quality
5.0
Design of degree program
4.1
Opportunity to choose courses
3.9
Practical em phasis of teaching and learning
3.4
Research em phasis of teaching and learning
2.3
Chances to participate in research projects
2.0
Provision of w ork placem ents
1.9
Competences
The biggest deficit (Required - Acquired)
Com puter skills
-2.0
Working under pressure
-1.4
Planning, co-ordinating and organising
-1.4
Negotiating
-1.3
Applying rules and regulations
-1.1
Econom ic reasoning
-0.9
Understanding com plex organisational system s
-0.9
Problem -solving ability
-0.7
Field-specific know ledge of m ethods
-0.7
Oral com m unication skills
-0.7
Taking responsibilities, decisions
-0.7
The global society
Blurring of national borders
 International economy
 Labour market
Increasing mobility
 Students and graduates
 Information and knowledge
The knowledge society
Knowledge is considered the first factor
for increasing economic productivity
Knowledge is also the first factor for
social development
KS stem from a combination of:




Production of knowledge through research
Transmission of knowledge through education
Dissemination through ICT
Application through technological innovation
The “universal university”
 Higher education for all
 Increasing access to higher education
 Higher education everywhere
 More institutions
 Distance and e-learning
 Higher education as a network
 Joint programmes
 Mobility of students and teachers
 Fast dissemination of knowledge
The answer of the educational system
Change of goals
Change of paradigm
Change of timing
Change of assessment
Change of goals:
Education based on competences I
What competence means
Specialized
competence
Methodological
competence
Social
competence
Participatory
competence
Knowledge
Flexibility
Sociability
Participation
Skills
Procedures
Modes of behavior
Structuring methods
Occupation specific
Variable working methods
Willingness to achieve
Coordinating skills
Enterprise-specific
Problem-solving
Willingness to work
Organizational skills
Experience –related
Independent thinking
Willingness to cooperate Persuasion skills
Adaptability
Honesty, fairness
Decision-making sk.
Team spirit
Leadership skills
Abilities
Change of goals:
Education based on competences II
Competences are a meeting point between
education and labour market
Competences summarize academic and
professional profiles
Competences define new objectives in the
learning process
Competences enhance the new learning
paradigm centred on the student
Opinions on competences
Graduates
Ranking
Academics
Ranking
Employers
Ranking
1ro. General Knowledge
4to. Interpersonal skill
6to. Interpersonal skills
12mo. General Knowledge
12mo. General Knowledge
14mo. Interpersonal skill
Results
Comparing Graduates and Employers
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
1
Capacity for organisation
and planning
Teamwork
Ability to work autonomously
Information management skills
Concern for quality
Capacity to adapt to new situations
Capacity for applying knowledge in practice
Problem solving
Capacity to learn
Capacity for analysis and synthesis
Instrumental
Interpersonal
Systemic
Results
Comparing Graduates and Employers
Ethical commitment
Higher for
employers Ability to work in interdisciplinary team
Initiative and entrepreneurial spirit
How
important
is...
Teamwork
Ability to work autonomously
Elementary computing skills
Higher for
graduates
Research skills
Capacity for organisation and planning
Change of paradigm:
From teaching to learning
From teacher to student
From lectures to a learning environment
From emphasizing inputs to outputs
From learning as accumulation of
knowledge to learning as a permanent
attitude towards knowledge
Change of timing:
Towards Lifelong-learning
 Traditionally, no special need for LLL
 Knowledge society requires an open learning
environment for all
 Promoting flexible learning paths for all
 More flexible organization of study programmes
 Considering labour experience
 Delivering education and training to adults
 A matter of labour marker effectiveness, but also an
matter of equity
Change of assessment:
From processes to results
Quality assurance mechanisms:
 Assessment for internal improvement
 Assessment for accreditation
Traditional procedures
 Based on inputs and processes
New trend
 Assessment based on results (what
competences have graduates acquired?)
Some recent experiences
in the EU
 The Bologna process
 The Joint Quality Initiative
 The Education and Training Initiatives
 Accreditation of HE programs
The Bologna process
 An European Agreement for a Common Space of
Higher Education (2010)
 Goals:
 Comparability and compatibility
 Employability in a common labour market
 Proposed solutions:




Common structure of degrees
Interchangeable courses
“Accounting” of courses by the ECTS
ECTS is based on learning activities and competences
The Joint Quality Initiative
Bachelor’s degrees are awarded to students who:
 have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field
of study that includes some aspects of the forefront of their
field of study;
 can apply their knowledge within their field of study;
 have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data to inform
judgements;
 can communicate information, ideas, problems and
solutions;
 have developed those learning skills that are necessary for
them to continue to undertake further study.
The Joint Quality Initiative II
Master’s degrees are awarded to students who:
 have demonstrated knowledge and understanding
that provides a basis for originality in developing
ideas;
 can apply their knowledge and understanding, and
problem solving abilities in new or unfamiliar
environments within multidisciplinary contexts;
 have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle
complexity, and formulate judgements with
incomplete or limited information;
 have the learning skills to allow them to continue to
study in a manner that may be largely self-directed or
autonomous.
Education and training initiatives
in the EU
 Three strategic objectives for Education and
Training System (ETS):
 Improving quality ad effectiveness of ETS
 Facilitating access of all to ETS
 Opening up ETS to the wider world
 Objective 1.2: Developing skills for the knowledge
society




Identifying new basic skills
Integrating skills in the curricula
Making attainment of basic skill available to everyone
Promoting official validation of basic skills
New trends in accreditation
 Accreditation of programmes as a legal
requirement for delivering degrees
 Recently established in The Netherlands and
Spain
 Not focused on how these competences are
acquired by graduates
 Programme accreditation by checking to what
extent offered competences are acquired
Education and work:
Conclusions
(answering the key questions)
 The new labour market requires people with a
broad range of competences
 The educational system should create a learning
environment that enable students to acquire
these competences
 This broad range of competences allows both
personal development and adaptation to the new
labour market
 Probably, the old contradiction (education by
itself vs. education for the labour market) is over