Abstract:

Career management is a relevant and challenging topic for higher education institutions, especially when quality and outcomes are parts of universities concerns. Generally, Career Directors are experts in their professional and disciplinarians areas, but they might find it complex to develop effective management in order to reach better performance indicators associated with educational processes. This paper presents the Management Model implemented by a Career of a Public University of Chile since 2006, describing the main processes associated with the Directorate of School, which, at 2012 and according to the Ministry of Education of Chile, has achieved a dropout 15 points below the national average (4.9% vs. 19.8%), an actual duration less one semester the national average (11.2 against 12.1 semesters) and employability in the first year nearly 2 points higher than the national average (92.3% vs. 90.6%), compared to the same career in the rest of the country.

Currently, the university where the model is executed has implemented teaching and academic modalities that are competency-based training and developed processes tending to align corporate policies with the actions of the academic programs, which sets the operational framework for careers management. In this context, the Model developed by the Career under analysis, has developed a structure and a form of organic nature, which allows for relevant action processes within the framework of a comprehensive management (Limone & Cademartori, 1998). This makes possible to incorporate academic and nonacademic considerations to achieve higher levels of performance.

Thus, the methodology of Modular Networks (Melese, 1968; Limone & Cademartori, 1998) used, as seen in the process of structuring of companies, all this based on the theory of autopoietic organizations (Maturana & Varela, 1973; Luhmann, 1993). This methodology, while allowing formalization and layout of results, is effective in expressing the real way in which decisions at the Directorate of School level are developed, highlighting a modern conception of organizational relationships. By accomplishing this concept, the internal relations of its structure and mechanisms for relating to environment is emphasized. Therefore, this model shows cybernetics that stand as a closed system that is related and connected to its environment, like a sociopoietic system (Arnold, 2012).

After the layout and description of management processes conducted by the Directorate of School, were done, it was possible to identify the Primary Process and 3 Decisional Processes associated with academic transformations, which are organized into modules called: Input Module Selection and Enrollment; Module Process: Retention and approval; and Output Module: Certification and Employability. These modules are developed in 9 sub processes that are assessed through 21 indicators or essential variables.

A final diagram is conceived to observe the relationships and consistency in the decisional flow associated with the Directorate of School, who conducts relevant activities at different times of the student lifecycle at the University. This ultimately will assist in achieving the high performance standards that the career under study shows. This consistency is reflected in the full interconnection of the activities associated with the teaching career management, and therefore to carry out the systemic vision associated with their administration.

Keywords:

University Managment, Complex Systems, Modular Networks.