Abstract:

In this research, based on the doctoral thesis "Study of the Professional Strategies of Comics and Illustration and their derived industries in Spain", we will focus on some of the most outstanding artistic industries of the Spanish panorama: comics, illustration, animation cinema and video games. These industries have an industrial and productive network with a strong presence of new technologies and both technical and training resources that are being updated at high speed.

This situation contrasts with an academic system where the focus is on research, which distances trainers from the professional industry and, in addition, professionals from the university world.

This is mainly due to curricular diversification and the greater importance of academic merit than professionals when it comes to achieving a position as a university professor.

The grading system for accessing this position is also in conflict with the different lines of study that define university careers and degrees. Depending on the type of degree or career, these have different main objectives for the student body that is studying them. In fact, in the Degrees focused on research and experimental work, the primary objectives are not the same as for those who seek a professional career path for their students. Moreover, the grading system for choosing teachers gives priority to research training over professional or academic experience, regardless of whether the position being sought is part of a professional degree.

As a possible solution for professionalizing artistic degrees, we propose, on the one hand, a change in the system of scales, which gives priority to the incorporation of experienced professionals into teaching positions.

In the same way, we present a compagination system that would allow us to optimize the collaboration with companies or the link between teachers and those companies. This could encourage the recycling of teachers with extensive university experience, encouraging their involvement in professional projects and, in turn, supervising the students.

As for occasional collaborations of professionals with the degrees, we observe the lack of them with the university. To avoid this situation, we understand that the university should be able to offer flexible schedules and tutoring for those professionals who wish to provide an intermittent or occasional service to the university. Otherwise, the university does not provide the conditions for a professional to be temporarily linked to a degree course.

Finally, we believe that it is in the interest of both the trainers and the university graduates themselves to speed up the process to update the degree programs. Given that the digital industry is constantly evolving, we believe that it would be very practical for this type of training to find a system for updating curricula with more flexible homologation and approval cycles. We understand that this is a determining factor for professional academic training to be able to keep updated with changes in work processes or the industrial network of the sector to which the students will be directed.

Keywords:

Fine Arts, Education System, Professor, Professionalization, Industry.