Professor's research competencies: their own perception and perception of students and experts

Resumen

Universities are involved in intense transformation moments that have been caused by motives as European Higher Education Area implementation. This transformation is changing professor’s professional setting where they develop their work. In turn, professor’s role is changing as well. These changes entail the acquisition and development of new competencies that are necessary to suitably meet needs of this new role.    To successfully meet these new training needs, we define this professional’s competence profile to suitably develop new requirements of the research role. To this end, we carry out a descriptive research that mixes quantitative methods with qualitative methods, and triangulates instruments (questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups) and sources (professors, experts, and students). We consider pertinent to talk about two kinds of professor’s competencies. These are research competencies and training competencies. In this article are only showed results of analysis of 4 research competencies (to design, to develop and to assess research projects; to organize and to manage scientific events; to develop scientific material; to inform and to disseminate scientific progresses) and the most meaningful details of the 30 unities of competencies in which the research competencies are broken down. At last, we define professor’s main training areas in relation with the research role. These are: development and advice of researches, bureaucratic and administrative processes, development of dissemination programs of scientific productions, personal relationships, people management and group management, and finally development of synergies and relations with other institutions, groups, etc.