Evaluating professional practicums: possibility for the improvement of higher education in Mexico

According to the OECD (2019), higher education in Mexico must be better aligned with the changing needs of the economy. Almost half of employers warn of a lack of skills in their sector and consider that the education and training of job seekers is not sufficiently adequate to fulfill their needs. P...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Gutiérrez Bernal, Zayra Guadalupe, Farfán García, María del Carmen, Navarrete Sánchez, Enrique
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2019
Country:México
Institution:UNIVERSIDAD DE SONORA
Repository:Psicumex
Language:Spanish
OAI Identifier:oai:aoi.psicumex.unison.mx:article/315
Online Access:https://psicumex.unison.mx/index.php/psicumex/article/view/315
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:evaluation
higher education
professional practicums
educational quality
evaluación
educación superior
prácticas profesionales
calidad educativa
Description
Summary:According to the OECD (2019), higher education in Mexico must be better aligned with the changing needs of the economy. Almost half of employers warn of a lack of skills in their sector and consider that the education and training of job seekers is not sufficiently adequate to fulfill their needs. Professional practicums establish a link between higher education and the job market, such that, if interns’ work is aligned with the needs of employers, universities will have a better possibility of offering emerging professionals competencies required by the job market. One option is regulating and improving the system of professional practicums employed by institutions of higher education insofar as doing so has a great impact on the planning, execution, and results of programs offered by universities and favors the fulfillment of the primary functions of higher education. When there exists a discrepancy between the training of professionals and the needs of the job market, there is a need to identify what is happening with professional practicums. A literature review suggests that these practicums are not systematically evaluated. Prior to proposing such an evaluation, this article presents a series of reflections on practicum evaluation with the intent of supporting the proposal of a subsystem or an autonomous system of evaluation for professional practicums.