Influence of the
characteristics of competences on the employability of graduates of Higher
Education Institutions
Influencia de las características de
competencias en la empleabilidad de los egresados de las Instituciones de
Educación Superior
Influência das características das
competências na empregabilidade de egressos de instituições de ensino superior
Miguel
Cueva Zavala
Ph.D. Universidad Estatal de Campinas. Rio de
Janeiro, Brasil, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8013-4708,
miguel.cuevazavala@gmail.com
|
Received
October 2019 - Accepted May 2020 Formación
docente - revista iberoamericana de educación http://www.revista-iberoamericana.org/index.php/es/index https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es e-ISSN:
2737-632X Vol - 3 No. 3 July - September 2020 Pags 1-17 |
Abstract. This
research has a singular and notable importance, because if something should
concern a Higher Education Institution, it is knowing what is
the destiny within society of the human resource trained in its
classrooms, that product that the institution delivers to the community who are
its graduates and professionals. For the Institutions of Higher Education it is
satisfactory on the part of employers, that the training received in the
Institution of Higher Education is indicated, that the majority of graduates
and professionals are incorporated into the occupational market; that is to
say; some exercise their profession and others do it in occupations that do not
correspond to their profession, which is justified, being aware that one of the
great problems of the contemporary world is undoubtedly the lack of demand for
human resources for stable work, which according to Authorized and reliable
studies of every 10 people who join the economically active population, only 3
have real possibilities of fully joining the labor market, either in the
private or public sector.
Key words: Higher Education, Graduates, Professionals, Entrepreneurs,
Resumen Esta investigación tiene una singular y notable
importancia, pues si algo debe preocupar a una Institución de Educación
Superior, es conocer cuál es el destino que dentro de la sociedad tiene el
recurso humano formado en sus aulas, aquel producto que la institución entrega
a la colectividad que son sus egresados y profesionales. Para las Institución
de Educación Superior es satisfactorio por parte de los empresarios, que la
formación recibida en las Institución de Educación Superior es la indicada, que
en su mayoría de egresados y profesionales están incorporado al mercado
ocupacional; es decir; algunos ejercen su profesión y otros lo hacen en
ocupaciones que no corresponden a su profesión, lo cual se justifica, estando
conscientes que uno de los grandes problemas del mundo contemporáneo es sin
duda la falta de demanda de recursos humanos para un trabajo estable, que según
estudios autorizados y confiables de cada 10 personas que se incorporen a la
población económicamente activa, sólo 3 tienen posibilidades reales de
incorporarse a plenitud al mercado laboral, ya sea en el sector privado o en el
sector público.
Palabras clave: Educación Superior, Egresados, Profesionales, Empresarios.
Resumo Esta
pesquisa tem uma importância singular e notável, porque se algo deve interessar
a uma Instituição de Ensino Superior, é saber qual é o destino na sociedade dos
recursos humanos treinados em suas salas de aula, o produto que a instituição
entrega à comunidade quem são seus graduados e profissionais. Para as
Instituições de Ensino Superior, é satisfatório por parte dos empregadores, que
seja indicado o treinamento recebido na Instituição de Ensino Superior, que a
maioria dos graduados e profissionais seja incorporada ao mercado ocupacional;
quer dizer; alguns exercem sua profissão e outros o fazem em ocupações que não
correspondem à sua profissão, o que se justifica, cientes de que um dos grandes
problemas do mundo contemporâneo é, sem dúvida, a falta de demanda por recursos
humanos para um trabalho estável, o que, segundo Estudos autorizados e
confiáveis de cada 10 pessoas que ingressam na população economicamente
ativa, apenas 3 têm possibilidades reais de ingressar plenamente no mercado de
trabalho, seja no setor público ou privado.
Palavras-chave: Ensino Superior, Graduados, Profissionais,
Empreendedores.
INTRODUCTION
The challenges of education of the current era are
clearly identified, it will surely be a very useful document for managers,
teachers, students, in short for the entire university community and the
Guayaquil and Ecuadorian society, it is a study carried out supported by an
adequate Bibliography and it represents a compendium of what the Institution of
Higher Education has done and should do, that leaves us in peace by allowing us
to know with reliable information technically processed, of the fulfillment of
the work that the Institution of Higher Education has carried out.
The employability of people is related to my
professional activity; therefore, it is not a topic that I consider for your
study and analysis for the first time. In my long experience working in the
selection of professional personnel for approximately 30 years I have been able
to detect a certain gap between the demand for employment and the professionals
that it is feasible to get in the market to satisfy it.
When I enrolled in the doctorate, in 2002, I began
to think of this subject as a possible object of research, an idea that has
been taking shape over the past few years. The bibliography used to determine
the state of the art in the matter, first, and to elaborate the theoretical
framework, later, in some cases it is a few years old, and other works have
been added, even in recent days. I was surprised - perhaps relative - that some
ideas that at first I thought could only be personal thoughts, I have seen
reflected in the work of prestigious professionals, such as Dr. Zabalza's latest book, which introduces the concept of
competencies in the Selection of training content in a study plan (Zabalza, Miguel Ángel, 2006).
Therefore, what at first seemed to be a topic raised from a very specific
perspective, has become, at the time of presenting my thesis work, a topic of
concern for people from different countries and university backgrounds.
Employability can currently be defined as the competence
that a person possesses to design their professional career, access the job
market and manage their own job development with success and satisfaction. As
with all competences, the competence for employability must become apparent in
a given context and be perfected throughout the subject's working life,
although her learning and development will begin at an early age. Being a
competence, employability includes aspects related to knowing, knowing how to
do and knowing how to be. However, we must clarify that, although employability
constitutes a personal competence, all social agents, especially those linked
to education and the workplace, are responsible for enhancing their learning
and favoring standards, processes and systems that facilitate it. , especially
in the current context of crisis, unemployment and globalization. This article
aims to present the concept, importance and current meaning of competence for
employability, describe its content and clarify the responsibility of the
different social agents.
In order to simplify the terminology in the
development of the report, the terms "graduate" and
"professional" are sometimes used in their comprehensive sense, since
it designates both graduate and undergraduate graduates; The student who
graduated is a graduate. On the other hand, in the document, without wishing to
ignore the importance of the gender approach in academic documents, the terms
"graduates" "graduates" and "professionals" are
used to refer to both sexes.
The (professional) people who apply do not always
have the required knowledge, although they do have the required bachelor's
degree, whether they request knowledge corresponding to a certain bachelor's
degree or other complementary ones, such as managing computer tools. In
addition, in a relevant number of cases we find people who, fulfilling the
previous requirements, do not possess the degree of development required in
terms of competencies.
The meaning of employability changes depending on
the technological and social innovations that affect working people and
companies. In this same sense, the training of workers must be adjusted to the
operating model of companies. Since this model is in continuous formation, we
are obliged to anticipate the future demand of society for both companies and
working people. Employers will also be able to adapt to the abilities of job
seekers. It is possible that if your creativity is remarkable.
The concept of employability is related to the
possibility of locating jobs and staying employed, not necessarily in the same
position, based on professional training that responds to a solid and broad
spectrum of useful basic content, due to its possibility of transfer, in
diverse contexts and jobs.
For a majority of authors (as can be seen in the
annex) employability is related to the development of attributes, abilities,
capacities or competences that, as pointed out (García-Manjón,
JV (Coord.), 2009), are valued in the labor market. In other words, “the common
denominator of employability is the utility of the competences and its
criterion is the remuneration” (Kohler, 2004, p.4).
"Employability in general terms is understood
as the probability of obtaining a vacancy in a specific job market based on the
attributes with which the search engine is endowed and which are those that
allow it to overcome the obstacles imposed by the market (Campos Rios G.,
2004).
Employability encompasses the skills, knowledge and
competencies that increase workers' ability to get and keep a job, improve
their job and adapt to change, choose another job when they want or lose the one they had, and integrate more easily into the job. job
market at different periods of your life"
At the beginning it was used to identify the skills
necessary for a specific job position (job skills), excluding the academic
skills most commonly taught at school (contemporary conception with a
restricted vision of technical-professional teaching),
In effect, employability skills are now understood
as a set of essential skills for learning and performing effectively in the
workplace, including communication and interpersonal relationship skills,
problem solving and management of organizational processes and organization of
one's own behaviors. depending on the requirements of the professional activity
or the job.
They can be characterized as generic competencies
(not linked to a particular occupation), transversal (necessary in all kinds of
jobs), transferable (acquired through systematic teaching and learning
processes), generative (allow the continuous development of new skills) and
measurable (Its acquisition and performance can be rigorously evaluated).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
It
is important to highlight that the information received from the general
secretariat and from the secretariats of the different academic units, the Higher
Education Institutions in Guayaquil, from the graduates, from the authorities,
from the teachers and from the students, constituted a valuable contribution to
the carrying out this work.
Reflection
on the link between the professional profile and the occupational field of the
graduates of the Higher Education Institutions in Guayaquil is considered
within the conceptual construction of the research. This articulation is given
by the training they received at their university. Furthermore, it is pertinent
to know the relationship between the training of graduates and employment,
considering that the essential purpose of Higher Education Institutions in
Guayaquil is to provide graduates with the appropriate knowledge and skills to
participate in the world of work. Hence the need to understand the context in
which the universities in Guayaquil have developed and analyze their role as
promoter of knowledge, as well as their influence on the socioeconomic
development of the province.
On
the other hand, it is necessary to start from a definition and differentiation
of what is a graduate and a graduate. The graduate is defined as the person who
has successfully completed and passed all the subjects of the academic
curriculum regulated by a career or discipline. And the graduate is determined
as the person who has met the academic requirements to graduate and has
obtained the corresponding degree.
From
the period covered by this research, an impressive expansion of tertiary
education occurred, so the supply of highly educated personnel increased rapidly and graduates began to feel the pressure of
competition. Employers, who now had sufficient human capital, were able to
select graduates on the basis of their competencies, so that part of the
graduates remained outside the labor market. In addition to the expansion of
higher education, some other factors that influenced the position of graduates
occurred, such as the emergence of new technologies (especially in the field of
computing) and ways of working, globalization, and increasing mobility. staff
and students.
In
this sense, the behavior of the labor market in the province has resulted in
insufficient demand for intermediate qualification positions to accommodate the
growing supply of young people with university training. One of the reasons is
that an increasingly demanding job market has become evident. In this sense, it
is necessary to begin to recognize that the relationship between titles and
jobs has become more complex. One of the factors is that there is a growing
demand for skilled workers. Graduates who do not have these skills often
encounter difficulties in making the transition from university to the labor
market, because employers are looking for people they
can directly incorporate into their internal structures without having to teach
them basic professional skills (Panorama Labor, 2001)
In
general, what happens in the labor market radically affects individuals. If the
market does not meet the demands of its citizens, it becomes a serious social
problem. And, in the country, it is one of the most serious concerns. One
reason is that labor markets are finding it increasingly difficult to assign
workers to jobs. The scientific and technological advance applied to the
production of goods and services has generated profound changes in the forms of
organization of work. A type of worker is required who possess a set of
competences very different from those required in previous historical processes
in the production of goods and services.
Another
element has to do with the certifications that graduates obtain at different
levels of study. Certifications that do not guarantee job stability, because
they tend to devalue.
Not
only are they devalued because they lack up-to-date content, but also because
those who have job stability are those who best develop their skills, or those
who have more studies. This does not necessarily mean that individuals carry
out an activity for which they were trained, but that, in many cases, people
carry out tasks for which they are over-qualified. In this sense, it is noted
that educational credentials have become more a selection criterion for
employers than a requirement for the performance of the job. This process is
known as the row effect. In other words, “the displacement of the least
educated by the most educated. Indeed, employers choose over the increasingly
educated educational offer and not because the educational levels achieved are
necessary for job performance ”(Gallart,
M.A., 2002.). In other words, the more the employability of the more educated
increases, the more the employability of the less educated decreases. This is
because the workforce on offer is far more educated than the demand for
employment needs. This phenomenon affects the devaluation of certifications.
That is to say that, as a result of the problematic labor context, the attained
educational level serves to rank first in the line of those seeking employment.
As
for the person, they will have job stability as long as they do not lose their
capacity for innovation and can guarantee that they will constantly add value
to organizations. Therefore, as long as it is employable, it will have job
stability, since this will be the true guarantee of stability.
RESULTS
The
work will be carried out with the purpose of demonstrating, based on an
investigation, the incidence of the competences in the employability of
professionals (as already explained, in two moments: the selection and the
separation of people), a situation that is perceived in the labor market and
that you want to corroborate through research. In other words, moving from
perception of incidence to research on incidence. If the perception were
confirmed, a proposal could be elaborated so that the subject matter is taken
into account by the different actors in society.
The
educational model for Higher Education Institutions in Guayaquil should focus
mainly on the student, on training processes, rather than on study levels.
Their characteristics are:
·
It promotes comprehensive and high-quality scientific, technological and
humanistic training.
·
It balancedly combines the development of
knowledge, attitudes, abilities, skills and values.
·
It provides a solid formation that facilitates autonomous learning, the
transit of students between levels, educational modalities, national and
foreign institutions and towards the labor market.
·
It is expressed in flexible and innovative educational processes, with
multiple spaces for relating to the environment.
·
It allows its graduates to be able to combine theory with practice to
contribute to the sustainable development of the country.
With
the proposed guidelines, it is explicit that the training of professionals
should be aimed at responding to the current needs of a society or the
workplace that is constantly changing. Consequently, the intentions of
vocational training lie in having professionals critically situated in the
national reality, who can be agents of change within the social system. It is a
model that proposes a training process focused on the student and their ways of
being and learning to be, know, do, live together, undertake and create,
fostered by adequate institutional management. Higher
Education in Guayaquil, are training institutions that appreciate in the
set of qualities that the student has, the possibilities of their growth as a
person and the common good. Just as the university sees human complexity in
each individual, so it also aspires, through that understanding, to provide
comprehensive training to those who make up the university community.
Therefore,
it is considered that the model focuses on a holistic and integral training
between the theoretical and practical, assuming that the graduate of the Higher
Education Institutions in Guayaquil needs to have a solid training that allows
him to promote the development of competences in different areas.
According
to (Tobón, Sergio, 2006), there is a large gap
between the supply of professionals trained in higher education and the labor
market, a situation that is reflected in the lack of consistency between the
needs of qualified personnel on the part of the companies, society and the
training that people receive in higher education; between structural
unemployment rates and the productivity and competitiveness problems of
companies.
(Allen,
J., 2003) points out that the main function of the university is to prepare
people to play a role in society, and more specifically, in the labor market.
In this way, labor insertion constitutes an aspect that involves both the
productive sector and the university.
In
this way, and according to (Yorke, M., 2004), the relationship between higher
education and job placement is relevant for two main aspects:
Superior
Higher education helps students acquire potentially important knowledge, skills
and competencies for use on the job.
The higher the level a
person reaches at the end of their pre-job education, the more likely they are
to succeed in the world of work.
The
type or level of competencies have practical implications for human resource
planning. As the “Iceberg Model” graph illustrates, knowledge and skill
competencies tend to be visible and relatively superficial in people (in the
sense that they are on the surface of the personality, making them easily observable). ). The concept of self or self, personality traits and
motivations are more hidden, in a deeper area of people's minds.
Knowledge
and skills related to certain skills are relatively easy to develop; The most
appropriate and effective way to improve these capabilities is through training
and education.
Motivations
and personality traits present a much greater difficulty both for their
evaluation and for their development; The most appropriate - whenever possible,
will be to select employees who already possess the personality characteristics
and motivations required for each position.
Illustration
1.- model of the iceberg
In
complex positions, competencies are more important than task-related skills,
intelligence, or credentials in predicting superior performance.
In
complex positions, competencies are more important than task-related skills,
intelligence, or credentials in predicting superior performance.
In
higher-level jobs - technical, managerial, and professional - almost everyone
has a high IQ and advanced studies at a good university. What distinguishes
those who perform best in these positions is motivation, interpersonal skills,
and political skills, both of which are competencies. Competition studies are
the cheapest way to fill these positions.
The
congruence that is achieved between professional profiles and the job market
will largely determine the quality that the professional practices of a
graduate have, and the levels of performance that they acquire in the specific
occupational field in which they find themselves, thus promoting the
fulfillment of the academic-occupational expectations, it is spoken then of the
professional-labor satisfaction of the graduate.
The
labor insertion supposes the access to employment and the development of labor
trajectories that have to lead, in theory, to a full labor insertion. According
to (Figuera P., 2006), full employment is understood
as the situation in which a stable job is acquired and in accordance with the
training acquired, or the period that elapses during the process of searching /
obtaining the first job or regular employment after obtaining a university
degree (Teichler U., 2001)
Knowing
the occupations and working conditions of university graduates and graduates is
of paramount importance, since, in general, it starts uncritically from the
assumption that the simple possession of a university degree allows its holder
to work as professional and be located at the top of the occupational pyramid,
where the best remunerations are received.
Possibly
this may have happened in the past, but in recent years the so-called
devaluation of educational credentials has implied that many people with higher
education must work only partially in occupations related to what they studied,
or even move fully to other activities, whose performance does not require
higher education.
Labor competencies are related to trades and by extension are applied to
university-type professions, and in some countries
they have been applied in relation to the formal educational system. Beyond the
educational level that, in our opinion, encompasses the main difference between
job competencies and Competency Management lies in the purpose with which each
of them was conceived (one to certify workers' skills, another as a management
model for the organizations).
The current educational model of the Higher Education Institutions of
Guayaquil, comprehensive training, which they develop is in a balanced way
knowledge, attitudes, abilities, skills and values, theory and practice.
Facilitating autonomous work, in relation to the environment. The design of
this model places the student at the center of the training process.
In contrast to this, based on a survey of the Higher Education
Institutions of Guayaquil, they report certain weaknesses in the process of job
development in workplaces (internships) and in the development of the “learn to
apprehend” method that allows graduated from university to continue learning
permanently, autonomously and independently.
Curricular practice does not promote learning from the construction and
reconstruction of knowledge and concrete applications, it does not help
students develop certain skills and abilities to achieve easy learning and
better professional performance.
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