Abstract:

This work aims to describe the design and partial results (only one year of development) of a pilot innovative educational project, named MAEGAP, to improve the quality, visibility, and attraction grades of the bachelor’s degree in Public Management and Administration (PMA) at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Castellón, Spain, in the current (2022/2023) and next academic years. This is only a pilot project, because the authors selected a specific roadmap in the whole degree structure (four years), including technological subjects (those that use digital resources the most), legal subjects (those that least need digital resources, but candidates for sharing in a double degree), and practices (Practicum and Grade Thesis, whose students contribute to the academic experience of almost the entire degree).

PAM has experienced an improvement in enrollment and participation since the change of the study plan to morning shift from the 2019-2020 academic year: UJI offers 70 student slots in the first academic year as new enrollments. However, it has not been possible to full cover the whole offer. Since 2012, the maximum enrollment rate (coefficient between the total offer and the students who have closed the enrollment) was 88.57 (2012/2013), the minimum enrollment rate was hasta 41.43 (2019/2020). In the past academic year, 2021/2022, reached a 65.71. This is a problem of visibility and attraction of the PMA degree outside the university environment, as middle and high schools, as well as the general society. We detected that the PMA degree is quite unknown, even by those responsible for academic guidance in the high schools, and the PMA professional career is confused with the negative vision that society has of civil servants in Spain.

Other collateral issues coming from this situation, as an excessive dropout rate of students at the end of the second semester of the first year, and the participation rate in theory sessions is generally below 50%. All together is very worrying even though the final results are usually within the standards.

Therefore, MAEGAP pretends to integrate the results obtained in previous courses, since the morning schedule was established, the evaluation of short-term improvement actions, and the study of viability of strategic and methodological solutions in the medium term, including the review of the methodological approach of the subjects that have obtained the worst rating in student surveys and the promotion and increase in the use of digital resources offered by the UJI as teaching support. Depending on the pilot project’s results, a more comprehensive and exhaustive project would be designed and developed to be extended along several academic years.

Keywords:

Strategic and methodological proposals, Improving degree public attraction, Pilot project for evaluation academic methods, Public Management and Administration.