Arturo Galán González

Faculty attitudes and training needs to respond the new European Higher Education challenges

The main objective of the Bologna Process is to create a “European space” for higher education that allows for comparability, compatibility, and coherence between the existing systems of higher education across Europe. This objective is commonly known as the European higher education area (EHEA). The creation of the EHEA is a new and specific challenge for higher education in Europe, one that depends upon improved faculty development and training across Europe. The integration of Spain and other European countries into European higher education more generally entails these challenges. In order for necessary changes in faculty development and training to take place, university managers and policy makers must account for designing training plans, as well the knowledge, attitudes and needs of faculty members. This investigation was undertaken with these themes in mind. Conducted in Madrid, Spain, it included 257 professors from ten different schools of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The aim of the investigation was to understand faculty knowledge and attitudes about changes in higher education in Europe. Moreover, with an eye to helping faculty members cope with the change that is accompanying the creation of EHEA, the investigators sought to understand the importance that faculty members place upon professional development and how current approaches to professional development at the university level could be improved. The results indicate a degree of ignorance regarding changes in European higher education as well as a feeling of resistance on the part of many faculty members. While many faculty members consider knowledge of change processes and adaptability to be important qualities, faculty responses also indicate a clear need for guidance if they are going to integrate new learning models and adequate coping strategies into their work in higher education.

La evaluación del profesorado universitario en España. Sistema nacional y divergencias territoriales

espanolLa importancia creciente atribuida a los ranquines mundiales de universidades ha promovido la competitividad en el ambito internacional conforme a unos indicadores centrados en la investigacion, lo cual ha influido notablemente en las politicas nacionales. La presion sobre el profesorado ha aumentado en grado sumo, lo que se deja sentir en la forma y los criterios para evaluarlo. En Espana, la Ley Organica de Universidades aprobada en 2001 y su reforma parcial de 2007 han cambiado el panorama en cuanto al acceso a las plazas de profesorado, cambio que se plasma, en primer lugar, en la obligatoriedad de la acreditacion previa del profesorado mediante una evaluacion externa para tener opciones de acceder a una plaza de profesor en cualquier universidad publica. El marco normativo espanol combina varios niveles de descentralizacion en materia universitaria, lo que ha llevado a la creacion de distintos organismos y diversos modelos para la evaluacion del profesorado. En este articulo se realiza un analisis descriptivo- comparativo basado en fuentes documentales legislativas sobre evaluacion del profesorado a nivel estatal y autonomico. Ademas, se analizan datos procedentes de la agencia regional que ha realizado mayor numero de evaluaciones (Comunidad de Madrid) relativos a la transformacion laboral de profesores en activo (N = 801) y se comparan los resultados de las encuestas de satisfaccion de candidatos. Los 10 sistemas de evaluacion revisados permiten una clasificacion en tres grupos en funcion de su grado de objetividad y transparencia. La satisfaccion de los candidatos es mas elevada cuando el grado de objetividad es mayor. Se cuestiona lo que se denomina �ineficiencia evaluativa�, producida por la transformacion de profesores en las nuevas figuras y por la creacion de 12 agencias autonomicas con competencias similares y sin reconocimiento mutuo. Finalmente, se propone una cultura de evaluacion mas objetiva y etica frente a la ambiguedad y excesiva discrecionalidad tecnica de muchos sistemas de evaluacion. EnglishThe growing emphasis on worldwide university ranking is boosting competitiveness at an international level, especially on the playing field of research, and this increased competitiveness is influencing domestic policy. The pressure on faculty has increased dramatically, as have the standards and criteria for passing faculty evaluations. In Spain, the University Act passed in 2001 and partially amended in 2007 has changed the landscape in terms of access to teaching positions, as firstly evidenced by the requirement of prior teacher accreditation by means of an external evaluation in order to gain access to professorships at any public university. Spanish legislation combines different levels of decentralization in university matters. As a result, different quality evaluation/accreditation agencies and evaluation models have been created. This paper gives a descriptive comparative analysis of legislation based on documentary sources concerning nationwide and regional faculty evaluation. In addition, data from the regional agency that handles the largest number of evaluations (the Madrid agency) and concerning the transformation of the contracts of faculty members now in service (N = 801) are analyzed and compared with the results of candidate satisfaction surveys. Ten sub-national evaluation systems are reviewed and classified into three groups according to their degree of objectivity and transparency. Candidate satisfaction is shown to be higher when the degree of objectivity is higher. Some discussion is then devoted to the problem of the evaluative inefficiency caused by transferring faculty from one system to another and by the creation of twelve regional agencies that share similar responsibilities yet fail to recognize one another. Lastly, a more objective, ethical evaluation culture is proposed to reduce the arbitrariness and ambiguity of many evaluation systems.