ACCREDITATION OF STUDIES IN SOCIAL COMMUNICATION BY THE CLAEP. CASE OF UNIVERSIDAD TECNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA Abel Suing1, Patricio Barrazueta2, Geovanna Salazar3
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1
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Grupo ECU-Digital (ECUADOR)
[email protected]
2
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Grupo ECU-Digital (ECUADOR)
[email protected]
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, (ECUADOR)
[email protected]
Abstract The processes of accreditation of higher education in communication in Latin America are present from 15 years ago through the management of the Consejo Latinoamericano de Acreditación de la Educación en Periodismo y Comunicación (CLAEP). The Council is dedicated to fostering and promoting excellence in the vocational education of journalism and communication, considers that the students of the universities that they attend a career in journalism and/or communication may be better prepared in the professional exercise if the institution is governed by international quality standards specific to the professions of journalism and communication. Accreditation is a process by which a group of colleagues from an academic program evaluates and reviews different institutional aspects, academics, curriculum and financial institution to establish the state of its academic quality. The purpose of the investigation is to verify compliance with the standards of accreditation CLAEP by part of the Degree in Social Communication of the la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), in Ecuador, in the year 2016. The standards studied are: Mission, government and administration; Curriculum; teaching body of full time and part time; research, creative activity and professional; services to students; budget, facilities and equipment; and, service to the Community, Extension and graduates. The methodology utilized is qualitative and quantitative from the information provided by the academic unit. The conclusions revolve around the levels of compliance with the standards. There are conditions and frameworks that compromise the work of the Degree in Social Communication of UTPL and help for the implementation of plans of best in constant relationship with their environment and international trends of the profession. Keywords: Higher Education, Accreditation, communication, journalism, quality
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INTRODUCTION
Accreditation is constituted in the process that pretends to strengthen the parameters of excellence in the educational institutions and to ensure quality education in the offered programs. It allows managers and teaching staff to have access to different viewpoints of people outside their institution and the own academic circle, it also creates a discussion forum for students, teaching staff and the public, where they can even offer their complaints and dissent teaching methods or curriculum content [1]. In this context, the career of Social Communication of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, advocates a re-accreditation at the Consejo Latinoamericano de Acreditación de la Educación en Periodismo y Comunicación (CLAEP) that allows to self-assess and get the criterion of external experts on the operation and educational practices applied in the Degree.
The relevance of this career is supported by the Constitution of Ecuador [2] in which articles 26 and 27 points the importance of education at all levels of instruction as the axis of development. According to the Constitution, individuals, communities, peoples, nationalities and Ecuadorian groups shall be entitled to a free, intercultural, inclusive, diverse and participatory communication; the universal access to information and communication technologies, the creation of social media, and the use of all visual, auditory, and sensory communication forms. Its academic proposal is part of the Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior (LOES) [3], particularly with article 8, which promotes values with a clear relationship to the academic and research context. In this respect, it focuses particularly on: a) To strengthen a reflective spirit among students aimed to achieve personal autonomy, within a context of freethinking and ideological pluralism. b) To train responsible scholars and academics with ethical and solidary awareness, capable of contributing to the development of the institutions of the Republic, the validity of the democratic order, and to stimulate social participation. c) To contribute to the fulfillment of the objectives of the development regime provided in the Constitution and in the National Development Plan; and, d) To promote and implement research programs of scientific, technological and pedagogical nature to contribute in the improvement and protection of the environment and promote the national sustainable development. In addition, the Degree recognizes communication as stated in the Constitution of the Ecuadorian Republic in their articles 10 and 16; and to the media as a service space, which is inserted into the demands and technological needs of world order. This management framework and legal regulations should be added to Article No. 107 of the la Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior [3] which highlights the need of university contribution in meeting the expectations and needs of society, national planning and foresight scientific, humanistic, technological development and cultural diversity. It is estimated that there are approximately 1,603 companies in Ecuador dedicated to the business of communication [4], space in which private media predominate. The media map in the country has been modified in its structure and management, by two factors. First, the presence of 22 public media of different origin and structure [5], and second, the approval of the Ley Orgánica de Comunicación article 42 which raises the requirement of a professional degree for the exercise of activities related to journalism and communication. The journalism practice is regarded as a technical trade rather than a profession of university order [6]. The highest concentration of schools and faculties of communication are in Quito and Guayaquil. The Ecuadorian university faces a continuous evaluation process, which, in the last decade has created series of evaluation and accreditation agencies. There have been two national assessment processes. The Degree in Social Communication responds to the demands of strategic planning included in the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir [7], specifically to strengthen the capacities and potentialities of citizenship established in the objective four and build spaces of common meeting , to strengthen national identity, different identities, national diversity and multiculturalism, established in the objective five. The relationship between the project and policies and strategies of the objective five of the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir [7], is: to preserve, value, promote and to give new meaning to the various collective and individual memories and democratize their access and dissemination; promote knowledge dialogue between the community and academia, in research and documentation of social memory, cultural heritage and diverse knowledge. One of the possibilities is the knowledge dialogue, which is due to respect and recognition of the partners, in a dynamic established in the communication process for group promotes knowledge construction. It is intended to promote and disseminate interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary
studies and projects about different cultures, identities and heritage, in order to ensure the legacy to future generations. The degree program emphasizes the relationship with society, history, economics, politics, organizations and media; encourages and disseminates ideas and projects that promote cultural rescue, identification with the environment and asset recovery. It also seeks to ensure to the population the right for free , intercultural, inclusive, responsible, diverse and participatory communication; establishes mechanisms to encourage the use of TICS to promote citizen participation, multiculturalism, valuing diversity and strengthening of plurinational identity and social fabric. The managing of technological instruments is an important part in the communication, bearing in mind that the universalization of the knowledge across the TIC, opens the possibility to reach more people; the professionals beside taking advantage of the technological resources, will develop aptitudes to process and spread information that guarantees a free, intercultural, enclosing, responsible and diverse communication. It is important to emphasize that the academic offer of Degree in Social Communication possesses a teachers' staff that have done or are doing their thesis on topics related to the digital communication. Likewise, nowadays the Department possesses two Prometeo investigators, whose projects are related to the area of the digital culture and the company of the knowledge, which will collaborate as teachers and advisers of the Master in Communication approved by the Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT). Some basic references to this respect are: Lévy [8], Jenkins [9], Pisani and Piotet [10], Castells [11], Echeverría [12], Manovich [13], guaranteeing the students a quality offer and a wide and rigorous theoretical methodological knowledge to carry out the work in an effective and competent way. Since 2010 there have been incorporated the dispositions of the Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior [3], which in the last two years motivated the redesign of the Degree in Communication in order to meet the objectives of the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo and the needs of the area, without neglecting the international trends and debates of the speciality. . In case of the Qualifications of Social Communication of the UTPL this has implied a diversification of the academic offer, but not a change of the foundations and orientation, while always it has sought to promote the freedom of expression, the rights to the communication and the communication for the development. With these precedents, in June, 2015 with the authorization of the Academic Vice principal of the UTPL, the Qualification of Social Communication requested the CLAEP to consider the reaccreditation. Between September and December, 2015 it was informed about the decision of the beginning of the process of accreditation to the Direction of the Socio Humanistic Area and to all the estates of the Department of Sciences of the Communication. In summary, the main activities have been: -
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Report of criteria and preparation of the budget frame of reference for approval by the Academic vice principal, January 2016. Formation of the management team accreditation: Patricio Barrazueta, Abel Suing, Catalina Mier, Claudia Rodriguez, Geovanna Salazar, in February 2016 Presentation of the project of re-design to students of the Qualification, February, 2016. Execution of the work schedule, start gathering information. Meetings with teams of students and teachers to report progress in the process of reaccreditation which is carried out led by the Coordinator of the Qualification and Quality Team members. Design and execution of the internal communication plan. Across a dialog with alumni it found out about their experience in the process of formation in the Communication Qualification, as well as the benefits obtained for their professional performance, with the action, as moderator, of the Dr. Patricio Barrazueta Molina, member of the team of Quality Management of the Communication Qualification. Working meetings with representatives of the Departments and UTPL's academic and administrative instances to present CLAEP's standards and to request information.
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To coordinate with members of the equipment of accreditation the integration of information and drafting of self-study. Presentation to UTPL's academic instances a report of self-study for feedback and approval, May - June, 2016.
METHODOLOGY
In the present article is used a descriptive methodology, based on the analysis and synthesis of the inform of accreditation of the Social Communication degree of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, delivered by the CLAEP. This organism belongs to the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) and guarantees the fulfillment of the quality standards and excellence in the education of this profession in the region.
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RESULTS
The Consejo Latinoamericano de la Educación en Periodismo (CLAEP) establishes seven standards that any program of Communication and Journalism must fulfill to be accredited and re accredited: - Standard 1: Mission, Government and Administration. - Standard 2: Curriculum. - Standard 3: Full/part-time teaching staff - Standard 4: Investigation, creative and professional activity. - Standard 5: Services to the students. - Standard 6: Budget, facilities and equipment. - Standard 7: Community service, extension and graduates. In this context, the Social Communication degree of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja fulfills all the norms, except the fifth norm, services to the students. It obtains the following results in the standards of accreditation set up by the CLAEP:
3.1 Standard 1: Mission, Government and Administration The academic proposal of Social Communication degree is part of the Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior (LOES) that focuses on (1) the strengthening of the reflective spirit aimed to achieve personal autonomy, within a context of freedom of thought and ideological pluralism; (2) the formation of responsible scholars and professionals with ethical awareness and solidarity; (3) the development and implementation of research programs of scientific, technological and pedagogical character. The organizational structure of the Social Communication degree includes a Degree Coordinator of the Social Communication Area at the expense of the Dr. Abel Suing Ruiz, who also is one of the 27 full-time teachers of the degree. The degree quality team, made up of eighth people, evidences a coordinated work among the Quality Management, Support and Administrative teams. The operating structure poses bi-weekly meetings between the Socio-Humanistic Area Director and responsible Section of the Department of Communication Sciences. Also monthly meetings are celebrated between the Socio-Humanistic Area Director and Department and Section Heads. As a result of these meetings, the certifications record the agreements.
Clarity of roles is demonstrated in the functions and in the teamwork, keeping a close relationship the Chancellor- Headmaster, the Socio-Humanistic Area Director (Dra. Diana Elizabeth Rivera Rogel) and the Director of the Communication Sciences Department (Dra. Jenny Jovita Yaguache). The working dynamics among the Directors, Departments, the Coordination’s degree and teachers full/part-time is fluid, and demonstrates that alignment exists as for the strategic aims of the Unidad de Comunicación Social.
3.2 Standard 2: Curriculum It is evident that the curriculum of the Social Communication degree contains the components to train professionals with a profile with the ability to perform in print, audiovisual and electronic media, and to manage communication processes in public, private and community organizations. The curricular structure of the Bachelor Degree in Social Communication consists of a series of eight cycles, containing basic training, generic career, trunks career, complementary, of free choice, Production Management, including the final project of the degree. This curricular structure started in 2007, and from June 2009, there is implemented the model of UTPL - ECTS to be articulated by the putting in process in the European Community and to open the possibility of mobility of the students, between others. It is remarkable their own model of Productive Management which proposes a theoretical-practical learning from the cycle I with the production of communicative pieces in the projects of the MediaLab and DirCom, and external organizations with whom it takes agreement as ECU 911. Also, the curricular organization and its staging in the classroom in the syllabus of each course, consistent with the academic content and support resources and bibliographic sources found in the library of the institution.
3.3 Standard 3: Full/part-time teaching staff Table 1: Professors of the Social Communication Degree Professors of the Social Communication Degree Full-time (40 horas)
27 professors
Part-time (menos de 20 horas)
2 professors
Total
29 professors
Source: UTPL´s General Director of Human Resources and Personal Development. The University bets strongly on the formation of postgraduate professors, across financial support and the access to licenses with possession of salary for the accomplishment of the corresponding thesis. At present the Unit possesses 14 Doctors between its teachers, other 12 already have reached the level of Mastery, and only 1 is Licensed. This aim could be reached, especially to the agreement signed with the University Santiago de Compostela (Spain). In addition, some teachers obtained his title of mastery in the University of Navarre (Spain) and in the Federal University of Holy Catarina (Brazil). An interesting point is that la Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja promotes the scientific production of the teachers across the economic recognition for every published article that is indexed in magazines in the cuartil, one of the databases Scopus and ISI. The University adopts across an internal regulation, the Regulation of Career and Army register of the Advice of Top Education of the Republic of the Ecuador, established in 2012. This offers a regime with objective and transparent criteria tied at the level of academic production and investigation, useful to the ends of motivating and strengthening the dedication and the commitment of the teacher with his unit.
3.4 Standard 4: Investigation, creative and professional activity The Strategic Plan of the Social Communication Degree 2012-2015 demonstrates and contemplates the Investigation, Development and Innovation as concrete and strategic, recognizing, that is indispensable " to incorporate the investigation as key element of the formation". The culture of the Investigation demonstrates the Skills and the Professional Profile that is explicitly indicated in the Formative Program of Social Communication degree and work at the institutional level as a degree. The specific Competitions and the professional Profile consider the importance of "Formulating topics of investigation ", and to have "Specialists in investigation and analysis of phenomena and processes of the communication ". Special mention deserves the agreement of edition, translation and publication of the prestigious magazine which initiated its international co-edition for Andean America with 1000 copies, possessing today 400 annual impressions and version online. The cost of the production and distribution represents to the institution an investment of US$5,358. The University has been able to take advantage of its relationship with prestigious Spanish institutions. The scholarship program Prometeo (Ecuador-SENESCYT) is an extra example, of the value of the impulse and diffusion of the investigations. Table 2: Investigation, formation and infrastructure of the Social Communication Degree CONCEPT
EXECUTION EXECUTION 2014 2015
BUDGET 2016
% budget for investigation
11%
10%
9%
% budget for education and training of professors and scholars
2%
2%
2%
Doctor´s degree
844
553
550
Professors training
473
516
450
Projects
1,195
1,639
1,500
Library and database
698
975
700
Laboratory equipment
1,45
799
700
Construction of Laboratories
2,808
2,238
2,190
Source: UTPL´s Financial and Administrative Direction
3.5 Standard 5: Services to the students According to the Ley de Educación Superior since 2015, the degree implemented a politics of accompaniment to the students' performance (a counselor for every 10 students and counselors for reproved students).
The stage of pre-professional practice or practicum, that develop the Productive Management 3.1 and Productive Management 3.2, realizes of an identical process for the first experience of labor insertion out of the University. In this respect, it is important to mention the number of agreements that allowed students to enter to the mass media and public and private organizations, which are due validated by the Degree. As soon as the student initiates the practicum, a follow-up is realized to see the advance of the students and at a final stage, tools of evaluation are applied to measure the performance of the students. The aspects related to the process of graduation are those that present a major area of improvement in the following aspects: -
Knowledge of the graduation process: characteristics, requirements and time to get the st nd Degree. It is weakly observed in the students of 1 and 2 year.
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Time they take in the process of graduating: This aspect is one of the most complex because there is a notoriously delay in the approval of the English workshops. Table 3: Graduated and new students of the Social Communication degree Number of graduated
2009 8
2010 5
2011 8
2012
2013
2014
2015
2
11
7
26
2012
2013
2014
2015
49
44
50
50
New students 2009 40
2010 45
2011 50
Source: Unit of Unified Management of UTPL´s Academic Information
3.6 Standard 6: Budget, facilities and equipment Table 4: Income and Expenditure Budget of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Income Budget of the degree 2014
$275.432
2015
$352.926 Total of expenditure budget
2014
$241.481
2015
$332.648 Total expenditures 2016
2016
$164.063
Source: UTPL´s Financial and Administrative Direction
The principal source of financing consists of the matriculations of the University. To this, the economic contribution granted by the Ecuadorian State, which reaches 11% of the general budget of the University. This contribution is used exclusively in scholarships for students and for teacher’s Master degrees. Comparing degrees of the different areas of the University, the Social Communication degree occupies the third place in the tariff scales. The students who realize cash payments receive discounts. In addition, the University possesses a wide system of scholarships, with a significant number of matriculated. Table 5: Scholarships Granted to Social Communication Students 2013
2014
2015
2016
Scholarships granted to students
63
77
107
55
Scholarships granted in exchange of a University Assistant work
3
1
7
1
Source: UTPL´s Scholarship Area
3.7 Standard 7: Community service, extension and graduates The UTPL is an academic point of reference of the province and Loja's Canton. There is a high sense of belonging and identity among graduates, who express that the values received are the hallmark of their training. They are recognized in the media for being responsible, proactive and thoughtful. The Graduates' Unit of the UTPL realizes the follow-up of insertion of the graduates on the labor market, bearing in mind that the rate of unemployment of the country reaches 5.3 % according to the number of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. Since it is possible to observe in the following Table, the gone away ones have had a high acceptance in different sectors of the labor market: Table 6: Percentage of Graduates for place of historical work (Accumulated to July, 2016) Type of Institution Education Undertaking Business Media ONG Public No information Total
No. of works 29 2 2 5 1 8 51 98
% 30% 2% 2% 5% 1% 8% 52%
Source: UTPL´s Unit Alumni As it turned out, the institution showed a clear interest in strengthening the relationship with graduates. This concern has been expressed with the implementation of Strategic Information Centralized System of ex-students to generate more precise information on the location of the graduates, and strengthen the employment exchange administered by the Graduates Unit. The social impact and the commitment of Social Responsibility of the University, highlight the Institutional Community Linking Project with its launch since October 2015 and through the Smart
Land. In recent years, academic productions as part of the Productive Management (GP) and Linking Project have been recognized nationally, with different prizes: • • • • •
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Second place in the University Competition of environmental journalism, organized by the Foundation FARO. Recognition at the International Summit of journalism for new times. EFFIE AWARD for the best digital campaign. Prize for the best scientific documentary awarded by SENACYT. Recognition from the Unidad Nacional de Periodistas.
CONCLUSIONS
After the visit of the CLAEP accreditors, it is determined that the Social Communication Degree from UTPL presents the following strengths: -
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Productive workflow between the Academic Vice President, the Director of the SocioHumanistic Area, managers of the Department and Section Coordinators Degree Grade Area. Close link between the full-time teachers with the educational project of the UTPL, as well as the vision and mission of the institution and of the degree. Balance between the theoretical and practical components into the curriculum Local agreements to formalize places for pre-practices. Almost all teachers reach the degree of Doctor or Magister. Important financial support (Budgeted 2015: US $ 800,000 US dollars) and integral (time and licenses) for their teachers reach the title of Doctors in prestigious international universities. High-grade graduates to identify with their Alma Mater. Prestige graduates in the local labor market. Dynamics of MediaLab as a citizen to generate multidisciplinary laboratory projects.
The Degree also presents weaknesses that have to be corrected across a plan of improvements: -
Little training on issues related to Entrepreneurship, Management and Strategy. Low graduation rate relative to students entering the degree. A lack of action plans to reverse weaknesses. Lack of flexibility and low supply of complementary subjects. Low awareness among students of the importance of English for professional development.
The useful opportunities from the Degree are: -
From the Degree, teachers are able to conduct postdoctoral research in different scientific institutions. The low unemployment rate in the country facilitates the employment of graduates. Before the scanty presence of local mass media, the Degree extract profit of his capacity of production (magazines, newscasters, programs of radio) to offer journalistic contents to the service of the community. Formalize in the curriculum the option for students to conduct academic exchanges with institutions in various regions and countries. Expand the portfolio of continuing education for the update from alumni and community members. Whereas has a large number of investigations of full-time faculty who have earned their doctorates, it is required to promptly become visible Repository Research Works. Harnessing the existence of the Prometheus Project to establish new international ties in various fields.
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Socialize early features and prerequisites of title work for students to take the implications of their curricular progress. In order to delve into the Alma Mater, it is ideal offer for alumni Carnet evidencing the recognition of that group. Improve systems of contact and communication with graduates. Work Agreements for international opportunities with CLAEP universities, among others.
Possible threats that the Degree faces are: -
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The absence of a competent English proficiency alienates students timely and comprehensive use of texts, papers and papers of relevance. In the field of communication, advances from countries that handle the English are essential. Strong links with Spanish-speaking countries that do not allow visibility to the importance of English as well as interact with academic culturally different communication networks (AEJMC, CIME, ICA, IAMCR, among others).
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Manual Claep, “Principios, políticas y mecanismos de acreditación. Estándares de acreditación,” Consejo Latinoamericano de la Educación en Periodismo, p. 4, 2015.
[2]
Constitución del Ecuador, 2008.
[3]
Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior, 2010.
[4]
G. Coronel y otros, “Anuario de las Empresas de Comunicación de Ecuador”. Loja, Ecuador: Ediloja, 2012.
[5]
M. Punín y N. Rencoret, “La profesionalización periodística en Ecuador. ¿La experiencia en las calles o el conocimiento de las aulas?” Revista Española Estudios del Mensaje Periodístico. Vol. 19. No.1, 2013. Disponible http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ESMP/article/view/42535
[6]
M. Punín y N. Rencoret, Cambios en el Mapa mediático de Ecuador: Los medios públicos que tenemos y los medios públicos que queremos. TELOS. Revista de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 16 (3).
[7]
Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir, Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo, 2013-2017.
[8]
P. Levy, Cibercultura. Barcelona, Anthropos, 2007.
[9]
H. Jenkins, Convergence culture. La cultura de la convergencia de los medios de comunicación. Barcelona, Paidós Comunicación, 2008.
[10]
F. Pisani y D. Piolet, La alquimia de las mutitudes. Cómo la web está cambiando al mundo. Barcelona, Paidós, 2009.
[11]
M. Castells, La sociedad red. Madrid, Alianza, 2006.
[12]
J. Echeverría, Los señores del aire: Telépolis y el Tercer entorno. Barcelona, Destino, 1999.
[13]
L. Manocich, El lenguaje de los nuevos medios de comunicación. Barcelona, Paidós, 2005.
