Abstract:

One of the main pillars of the convergence is the updating of the university teaching methodologies and competences development. Assuming a student based model, teaching teams creation, and the development of modularity and cross sections among university subjects, need to be boosted through a teaching structure that overcomes current fragmentation of Study Plans, and that helps coordination levels among teachers involved.

Creation of coordination figures, that contact with teacher and student representatives of different years integrated in the new degrees, is one of the resources that can help achieving the mentioned goal. Coordination is essential, and should be applied into different level (in the degree, in years, in terms, in subjects, in departments, in teachers… etc).

European Higher Education Area gives us more ambitious challenges than changing the teaching method in subjects. In particular, demands improving coordination levels among teachers of different subjects, even from different departments, because only a high coordination level allows students to develop their competences along their degree, or apply certain teaching methodologies whose impact is very limited if its applied isolated in one subject of a few ECTS.

It’s also important knowing all the subjects that will be taught in the new degree studies to understand that several approaches of a same topic can coexist and that only with the wish of an appropriate negotiation if is possible to obtain, both for students and teachers, profits of a better planning of the learning.

The aim of this communication is to analyze the structure and the implementing process of the coordination figures done by the Economics Faculty of the University of Alcalá (UAH) developed during the year 2009/2010 and the first term of the 2010/2011 from the point of view of one of the coordinators.

In first place we will analyze the existing coordination figures, to continue describing the implementing process from three different points of view: students, teachers and coordinators, emphasizing both positive and negative aspects.
As a conclusion, and basing on the current situation, we propose several specific improvements for the Economics Faculty.

Keywords:

Coordination.