Competency-based training in higher education

The change of contexts in university education refers to the academic and professional experiences that are combined during the academic course and that can complement the competency-based education provided by Higher Education Institutions, generating an important change from the pedagogical and didactic point of view that directly intervenes in the professional performance. From this work, the perception of the graduates of the University of Boyacá on the general competences applied in their professional performance is investigated. A descriptive-exploratory study was carried out, from an interpretative paradigm through a sequential method. For this purpose, 881 graduates of the 2017-10, 2016-10, 2014-10 and 2012-10 cohorts of the 21 undergraduate academic programs participated in the research. Among the results, satisfaction on the part of the graduates in the acquisition of general competencies applied to their professional performance in accordance with the institutional graduation profile stands out, with the most mastered competencies being leadership and change management and ethical-citizenship. In summary, these results point to possible lines of action to enhance the acquisition of general competencies within the academic programs, and consequently align the institutional graduate profile. El cambio de contextos en la formación universitaria alude a las experiencias académicas y profesionales que son combinadas durante el transcurrir académico y que pueden complementar la formación basada en competencias impartida por las Instituciones de Educación Superior, generando un cambio importante desde el punto de vista pedagógico y didáctico que interviene directamente en el desempeño profesional. Desde este trabajo se indaga la percepción de los egresados de la Universidad de Boyacá sobre las competencias generales aplicadas en su desempeño profesional. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo-exploratorio, desde un paradigma interpretativo a través de un método secuencial. Para ello, han participado en la investigación 881 egresados de las cohortes 2017-10, 2016-10, 2014-10 y 2012-10 de los 21 programas académicos de pregrado. Entre los resultados se destaca satisfacción por parte de los egresados en la adquisición de competencias generales aplicadas a su desempeño profesional acordes con el perfil de egreso institucional, siendo las competencias más dominadas liderazgo y manejo del cambio y ético-ciudadanas. En síntesis, estos resultados señalan las posibles líneas de actuación para potenciar la adquisición de competencias generales al interior de los programas académicos, y en consecuencia alinear el perfil de egreso institucional.

Hungry in Japan: Food Insecurity and Ethical Citizenship

In addition to other forms of precarity, food insecurity—citizens not having access to nutritious food—is an issue of growing concern in contemporary Japan. This article explores societal responses and documents a strong growth of volunteerism in the form of food banks andkodomo shokudō(children's cafeterias) that offer cheap or free meals to children in need. Both types of programs have become more common since the mid-2000s and are filling a void left by the government. This article explores the tensions in these private programs by drawing on the concept of ethical citizenship, which suggests that volunteerism is entrenched in neoliberalization. The programs are constructed in terms of moral matters, such as creatingibasho(space) for citizens’ mutual help and reducing food loss by “bringing backmottainai” (wasting nothing). This championing of community power risks masking the fact that food insecurity is in part a result of the failure of public safety nets.

Crafting Ethical Connection and Transparency in Coastal Kenya

As connecting to the global economy has torn individual traders from the decades-old co-operative societies, a wave of “witchcraft” accusations and market burnings have helped illuminate the importance of the crafts industry’s moral economy of creativity and innovation and the ongoing debate about what ethical and moral development looks like in Kenya. Ideas of ethics and transparency, as produced through the application of a Fair Trade sticker, strategically erase complex economic and ethical realities while simultaneously indexing ideas of digital modernity and ethical citizenship. A Fair Trade sticker shines a selective light on marketable realities while simultaneously obscuring those inconvenient to marketing crafts. This new wave of ethical branding and NGO aesthetics enables a “race to the bottom” by businesspeople to find and organize the most exploitable artisans (the handicapped, single mothers, homeless children) into workshops and artisan organizations that explicitly market the marginality of the producers.