Abstract:

There is a growing awareness of the importance of integrating the gender perspective and social inclusion dimensions into the higher education learning models. Although there are several ways to achieve this goal, most of them are based on the development of skills, which is the standard scheme in the European Higher Education Area.

In order to develop efficient actions and activities that allow incorporating these social dimensions, a first step consists of identifying what competences require more attention and what are the student’s perceptions about them. Within a broader project which is being carried out by a permanent group of innovation in education (GpIE 146) at the University of Málaga, in this paper we investigate the perceptions of our students analysing the results of surveys conducted after specific seminars dedicated to these topics in the MSc in Actuarial Science.

The approach we follow involves connecting the gender perspective or social inclusion to specific topics of relevance for the professional sector, in order to address their significance with reference to particular situations, consequences for citizens, businesses, society, etc. Moreover, this method facilitates identifying the competences needed to handle these social dimensions and to assess their impacts. Once identified, specific workshops are scheduled to discuss the topics. As an example, for our students in the MSc in Actuarial Science, the first workshop was focused on the implications of using unisex life-tables in the insurance market.

With the aim of encouraging a participative process, the workshops begin with discussions in small groups, triggered by a short document available in advance, that are followed by a general discussion in the whole group. Finally, a short survey is conducted to have an assessment of the students’ perceptions.

One of the aims of the survey is to assess the level of awareness of our students, and their perceptions about the general social sensitivity, with a particular emphasis in the specific subject under discussion. Hence, it includes a subjective assessment of their personal awareness of the topic, as well as what they feel about the awareness of society, other students, other university staff, and professionals.

The analysis of the results of the first sessions indicates that, in general, our students perceive a personal higher awareness than what they feel society considers. In contrast, after the workshops, they also feel that professionals are more concerned about the specific topics dealt with.

Another relevant result obtained is the heterogeneity of our students’ perceptions. A cluster analysis has been performed which allowed us to find three groups of students based on their answers. A first group showed a relatively balanced set of perceptions between society, professionals and themselves, maintaining the general relative ranking. On the opposite side, there is a group of students with highly polarized answers, characterized by very low mean social awareness perception. In addition, we also defined a group of students with an intermediate position between the other two.

Finally, the survey also reveals a very high level of satisfaction with the workshops and their usefulness for enriching the learning process.

Keywords:

Gender, social inclusion, skills, actuarial.