INVOLVEMENT OF THE CRITERION "CURRICULUM" IN THE ACCREDITATION OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES IN LATIN AMERICA

The processes of accreditation of higher education in communication in Latin America are present from 15 years ago through the management of the Consejo Latinoamericano de Acreditación de la Educación en Periodismo y Comunicación (CLAEP). According to the CLAEP accreditation is a process by which a group of colleagues from an academic program evaluates and reviews different institutional aspects, academics, curriculum and financial institution to establish the state of its academic quality. One of the standards proposed in the policies of accreditation is "curriculum" that investigates the study plans of the academic units and the contents that allow students to obtain skills to work in a democratic society, inclusive and global.

The indicators that allow you to verify the compliance with standard relate to:
1) The implementation of the laws and principles of freedom of expression and prey;
2) An understanding of the role that the professionals and the media have in the formation of public opinion; and,
3) The insertion of the ethics in the academic meshes.

The purpose of the investigation is to contrast the academic offer of the Faculties and Schools of Communication of the universities accredited to the CLAEP in 2016 to verify the compliance of the standard "curriculum". The methodology applied is qualitatively from the analysis of the contents of all the academic meshes and interviews with students and teachers. The findings help to guide the development of studies of social communication around the principles of freedom of expression.