Global generic competences with local ownership: a comparative study from the perspective of graduates in four world regions

  • Pablo Beneitone Tuning Academy, University of Deusto, Spain
  • Edurne Bartolomé University of Deusto, Spain
Keywords: global analysis, generic competences, context-comparative approach, graduates, consultation process, factor analysis

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of generic competences across different cultural contexts in the world. Using the Tuning projects data collected in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Russia, and focusing on graduates´ perspective, the authors aim to classify and compare the list of generic competences throughout all geographic regions covered by Tuning, analyse the importance and achievement given to the generic competences throughout different contexts, and also contrast the latent constructs obtained from the exploratory factor analysis, in order to observe how competences are classified and clustered across regions. The article shows and explains the main differences observed and stresses the relevance of taking into account the cultural context and the traditions of education systems, in order to properly understand the importance of generic competences in different regions, and also how, even though the competences are equivalent, they may articulate distinctive dimensions in each region.

Published online: 4 July 2014

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Author Biographies

Pablo Beneitone, Tuning Academy, University of Deusto, Spain

Pablo Beneitone is Director of Tuning International Academy at the University of Deusto (Spain). During most of his professional and academic career since 1994 onwards, he has been responsible for managing international higher education projects at university and national level. At the University of Deusto he was Project Manager of Tuning Latin America and Tuning Africa, and was involved in other regional programmes, Russia, China, and Europe, supported by European Commission. He has published extensively on the ‘Tuning Methodology’ and given Tuning-related conference presentations in more than 25 countries. Mr. Beneitone holds a Bachelor degree in International Relations and a Master in International Cooperation from Universidad del Salvador (Argentine). His doctoral research focuses on the internationalisation of curriculum.

Edurne Bartolomé, University of Deusto, Spain

Edurne Bartolomé Peral is sociologist and political scientist. She has a PhD in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Deusto (Spain) where she currently works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. Since 2002, she has been doing research on social values on comparative perspective in a European project called “EUROPEAN VALUES STUDY”. She has collaborated in various research projects at the Spanish and European level, and she is currently principal investigator of a research project on social trust in out-groups funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. She has been visiting scholar to international universities and she is currently developing the research component of the Deusto International Tuning Academy. Dr. Bartolomé is author of several publications on social values and comparative political culture.

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Published
2014-07-04
How to Cite
Beneitone, Pablo, and Edurne Bartolomé. 2014. “Global Generic Competences With Local Ownership: A Comparative Study from the Perspective of Graduates in Four World Regions”. Tuning Journal for Higher Education 1 (2), 303-34. https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe-1(2)-2014pp303-334.

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