Análisis de las competencias generales para la empleabilidad y la adaptación socioculturallos titulados universitarios en educación españoles trabajando en europa

Resum

The internationalisation of economic relations and the global financial crisis process have contributed to the promotion of labour mobility of qualified professionals, and even forcing it at times. Therefore, during the recent period of recession (2008-2016), a growing number of Spanish university graduates have sought job opportunities in other European countries, and on other continents, in keeping with their qualifications. Further, Spain used to have, and still maintains, one of the highest unemployment rates of the European Union (EU) (OECD, 2018), and working conditions do not favour the labour insertion of university graduates. In this context, and as the Bologna Process promotes convergence among institutions of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), this doctoral thesis considered the general competences included in the curricula of Education degrees, as a possible linchpin to develop employability in Spanish university students. General competences can be transferred to different labour contexts where they can also be used in different jobs, which may or may not be in keeping with the graduate's qualifications. University education based on this type of competences may be expected to facilitate labour mobility beyond the Spanish borders. The employability of these qualified professionals will be tested in the recipient country, through general competences as well as in terms of their socio-cultural adaptation. In this sense, the objectives of this research were to: a) examine if the use of general competences positively contributes to self-perceived employability in Spain and abroad, and consequently, study if the perception of one’s own employability has an impact on socio-cultural adaptability outside Spain; b) analyse if the contextual variables (previous experience working or studying in another country, labour context, time of stay, and type of job) intervened in the perceptions of employability and socio-cultural adaptation difficulties. Information was compiled from 336 Spanish university graduates from the Education area to conduct this study. All graduates held jobs in keeping with their education or other jobs in the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland or Spain. Thus, a current and international view of the labour situation of these graduates was obtained, comparing the Spanish context with another three European countries. The research was designed using quantitative and cross-sectional methodology, adapting different scales. This permitted drawing up the Questionnaire of General Competences, Employability and Socio-cultural Adaptation (Spanish acronym, CGEAS), which was used to compile the research data. Generally speaking, it was concluded that Spanish graduates are perceived as more employable when they work in a different labour context to the Spanish context, as they put their general competences into practice more than workers in Spain. On the other hand, no noteworthy differences were found between the countries in terms of the importance of general competences, with the exception of the results of the communication competence in a foreign language. Therefore, the results indicate that general competences can be transferred and used equally in any of the four countries studied. Regarding employability and socio-cultural adaptation difficulties, it was found that a high perception of employability helps to reduce this type of difficulty. Moreover, the Spaniards who presented few social and cultural adaptation difficulties, were also perceived as more employable. Finally, it is concluded that granting importance to education in general competences at university will increase employability and reduce the socio-cultural adaptation difficulties of Spanish graduates working outside Spain, as these competences form the cornerstone that upholds the employability of any professional.