Abstract:

In today's global economy there is an overriding demand for creativity. Often referred to as an engine of economic growth, the ‘creative person’ has a prominent role in almost all professional fields, while creativity frequently appears as a highly-required skill to succeed in the labour market. This is especially relevant in the framework of creative industries, where creativity is the raw material of professional activity.

Meanwhile, different studies have drawn attention to the predominance of a celebrative representation of creative workers, suggesting that the notion of creativity has become a kind of moral imperative that cuts across the contemporary imaginary of advanced economies (Osborne, 2003; Garnham, 2005; Lee, 2016; Jessop, 2004; Mitchell, 2008; Grossberg, 2010; Gibson, 2011). Moreover, many have pointed out that the proliferation of discourses and policies that uncritically praise creativity as a resource for individual progress and self-realisation has contributed to the increase of work precariousness within creative industries (Banks, 2017; Gill, 2014; McRobbie, 2015; Creus, Clares, Sanchez-Navarro, 2020).

This context poses significant challenges for higher education. On the one hand, the university is expected to provide the skills needed by new generations of creative professionals to make decisive contributions in a VUCA world where digitisation, artificial intelligence and virtualisation are just a few of the many challenges posed by today's labour environment. On the other hand, universities are expected to go beyond their training and employability vocation, contributing to generating critical debates, policies and practices that promote social value, sustainability and ethical uses of professional knowledge.

In that context, while there are many studies that analyse how the dynamics, environments and working conditions in the creative industries have evolved, much less research has been done on the imaginaries, expectations and desires regarding the profession of those who are being trained to work in this field.

Looking to contribute to fill this gap, this study explores the discourses and stories around the creative profession from the perspective of university students. It is a qualitative exploratory study, based on an open questionnaire answered by 272 people currently studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication or a Bachelor’s Degree in Design at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Through a thematic analysis of the data collected, in this communication we will address and discuss three major issues: the beliefs, values ​​and perceptions of students about what creativity is; their expectations about creative work; and their knowledge and concerns about working conditions in the creative industries.

This study is part of the funded research project Narrative Cultures: Digital Storytelling, Social Action and Public Creation whose main purpose is to address the essential role that stories have acquired in contemporary society, including in education and in the construction of professional identities.

Keywords:

Higher education, creativity, professional imaginaries, skills, employability, creative industries.