University education beyond scientific knowledge
SANTO DOMINGO. “Teaching a career or discipline will not be enough to be able to adapt to the great changes that are coming,” said María Elena Córdoba, director of the Curriculum of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), during the Fifth International Seminar of General Studies conducted in coordination with the International Network of General Studies (RIDEG).
When dictating the conference "General Competences and Studies", recognized that at first sight there may be incompatibility between the desired curriculum for competencies and the vocation of comprehensive training and integration of the contents and voices not specific to the academy, which raise the general studies . However, he clarified that in the case of the INTEC, from the educational reform of the 2010, the preparation of the professional for the competitive labor market is attended, but giving priority to the human formation and for the whole life of the graduate.
Córdoba indicated that to achieve a synergy between competences and general studies, it is essential to assume a conception of competencies capable of influencing the improvement of education, which prioritize the integration of different types of knowledge and psychosocial resources, which make it possible to work for the self-training rather than to correct, recover popular knowledge, integrate knowledge in order to get closer to a more comprehensive explanation of the object of study, and achieve results that go "beyond" the disciplines.
"The human being can be competent, if he is capable of developing an integral formation, with competences for life," said the teacher. In addition, he indicated that general studies lead to the formation of integral, critical human beings, with ethical and citizen commitment, that in a design by competences consists in building a thought-practiced curriculum that respects subjectivities and includes sectors and themes that are often invisible .
He called the professors to assume an ethical commitment with the student, and an attitude that favors a curricular reconstruction where human values go hand in hand with scientific knowledge.
During his presentation, Córdoba emphasized that the new professional demanded by society must be open to all types of knowledge and, above all, capable of continuing to learn throughout life.
He stressed that, with the general studies in the training proposal, students are encouraged to learn based on their own experiences, without discriminating against others, to relate better to their environment, to assess the gender perspective, to act Autonomous and entrepreneurial way.