La universidad española en un mundo globalizado

Los resultados

Abstract

This study is the second part — or continuation — of a previous one entitled «The Spanish
university in a globalized world: Resources» published by the same authors in the Revista Española
de Investigaciones Sociologicas (issue 102, April-June 2003). It deals with a comparative
investigation of the university in Spain in relation to the post-secondary education systems in other
countries in the world. The aim is to assess the differential quality of university systems in the
different countries around the world. In the first part, this is done through analysing the results of
university systems and their distribution by countries. Comparative data of human capital in the
university, essentially teachers and students, who can be considered as resources and also as results,
are presented. It calculates the population that has tertiary education, both among the adult
population and among the young people of the respective cohorts. Analysed in the second part are
the trends for specialization and graduation with an indication of the differences existing between
countries. The process of feminization of the universities, in particular the situation in Europe, is
analysed. The globalization and internationalization trends of university studies are explained,
analysing in detail the case of foreign students. The last part studies the relationship between
tertiary education and occupation in the labour market. Also taken into account are the relationships
with unemployment. This article complements the prior analysis of inputs with an investigation of
differences and inequalities in outputs that are considered to be increasingly important in studies
that attempt to measure the quality of teaching and the excellence of research in university
education. The most important differences of the Spanish university in comparison with other
European Union countries are presented, and in turn the results obtained by European systems in
relation to other advanced countries around the world. The factors explaining the underdevelopment
and decadence of the present-day European university are delimited. The best data
published by UNESCO, the OECD, the World Bank and the United Nations is used. Part of this
data is used today in the Standing Group on Indicators and Benchmarks of the Education and
Culture Office, in the European Commission (in Brussels) where the representative for Spain is
Professor J. M. de Miguel. This article is part of a line of research that he is developing in
collaboration with several centres: Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Publica de Navarra,
Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania and the Committee for Social Sciences of the
European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research (of the European
Commission, Brussels). It includes a selected and up-to-date bibliography.