Abstract:

This contribution arises from an Educational Innovation and Improvement Project at the Universitat Politècnica de València. This Project was implemented in the second semester of academic year 2014/15. It involves students face a real problem presented by a firm and they propose solutions. These solutions are developed through the teaching methodology Project-Based Learning (PBL), a very useful tool for developing generic skills of all kinds.

The aim is to know the level of achievement of the four generic skills evaluated: “Application and practical thinking”, “Analysis and problem solving”, “Teamwork and leadership” and “Knowledge of contemporary issues”. The assessment is different in each skill: some are assessed by the lecturer through a written report prepared by a group of students, and others are assessed by the self-evaluation of the students. Both indicators are measured on a Likert scale of five levels.

A multidisciplinary approach was followed when applying the same procedure to four courses of varying degrees at the University. These degrees are: Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management, Bachelor's Degree in Tourism, Master's Degree in Agricultural Engineering and Master's Degree in Building Constructions. This allows us to find differences based on different profiles of students.

The main results indicate that, globally, students have obtained a fairly acceptable level of achievement in the four skills. Particularly, the skill “Analysis and problem solving” has achieved the highest score. Finally, it is confirmed that there are differences in the results depending on the degree analyzed, especially if it's Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree.

Keywords:

Generic skills, Project-Based Learning (PBL), firm, assessment.