Abstract:

This paper presents the experience acquired over more than a decade by a group of teaching staff working in the area of education for Management and Administration of Family-Owned Businesses at the School of Economics and Business Studies of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The process began with adaptation to the guidelines of Bologna and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), after the subject was included in the school's undergraduate and postgraduate studies. It was decided to create an educational framework that would combine the benefits of active and collaborative learning in the classroom with the contributions that could be made through university/business collaboration. The teaching programme was designed to include tasks with formative assessment, developed with a mixture of active methodologies, combined with the experiences of professionals by way of a programme of guest lectures by relevant business agents. The result has been a continuous improvement in educational innovation, with synergies arising from a combination of methodologies and educational environments.

The teaching methodology used in the classroom is based on the UPV/EHU's own Cooperative and Dynamic Learning (IKD) model. This model is in line with Bologna guidelines and seeks to develop a syllabus focusing on active and cooperative learning. The IKD model emphasises the idea of making students masters of their own learning process and ensuring that they receive a comprehensive and flexible education, adapted to the needs of society. This is an important advance on traditional training schemes in the field of business management. However, the staff in charge of teaching family firm management and administration took an additional step by bringing the real business world into the classroom. In this way, the team has sought to respond to the need for adaptation and change and to an emerging demand for new forms of knowledge as required by an ever-changing economic, social and business environment.

The purpose is to share the experience we have accumulated in teaching over the years, in support of the research group in educational innovation of which we form part: University Management for Performance Improvement (UMPI) http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/umpi/aurkezpena

Keywords:

Colaborative educational, active methodologies, case study.