Percepción de estudiantes y empleadores sobre el desarrollo de competencias digitales en la educación superior

Abstract

The competence-based pedagogical model is having a significant influence on the debate about aligning higher education to labour market requirements. For that reason, each discipline needs to continuously monitor job prospects and adjust the university’s competence curricula accordingly. In this context, the purpose of this research is to analyse the existence of a possible gap between market requirements and education in relation to students’ digital competence level, and possible mismatches by sex and field of knowledge. To verify the correct match between the market and the development of digital competencies, a twophase research was conducted. In the first phase, the content of job offers was analysed, as methodology to determine the digital competences needed to perform a job. In the second phase, a survey was carried out among undergraduate students and their potential employers to evaluate their digital competence level. Employers were asked to evaluate the perceived level of digital competences that graduate students have (or, “what level of digital competence have graduate acquired at the university?”). In the case of students the questionnaire was self-evaluative (or, “what level of digital competence do you think you have acquired at the university”). The results of the study show some differences or gaps amongst university students in the use and digital competence level by both sex and field of study. Additionally, this study shows differences between the competence level perceived by the students and the level perceived by the labour market, which represents a clear mismatch between education and labour market.