Indicators of The Quality of The Didactic Process in Higher Education from The Student’s Perspective

Abstract

Abstract Quality in education represents a predictor of education for sustainability development. This article aims to measure: (a) the level of satisfaction perceived by students regarding the development of the didactic communication process (OS1) (b) the assessment of the importance given by the student to the organizational and didactic practices necessary to increase the quality of university education (OS2). The research is quantitative, and its specific tools were designed considering the following variables: (a) dependent variables: satisfaction, and knowledge, and (b) independent variables: indicators of effective communication quality, teacher competencies, effective learning practices, quality of training, importance and performance in training professional and transversal skills, indicators of conflict of interest and ethical dilemmas. The data processing aimed at determining the average scores for each dimension investigated and their ranking was based on the values obtained for each provided subsample. The resulting values have an average score of 1.45 and 1.34, respectively, revealing a relatively small distance between those two dimensions. This leads us to appreciate that students know the role, place and importance of the learning environment in increasing academic performance. Providing support services for students is also perceived as important since the average score obtained is 1.23 - not far from the average of those related to the learning environment. Didactic communication contributes to the efficiency of the didactic process; it is appreciated that empathy, personal integrity and expressiveness are the attributes that any teacher must possess; compliance with the rules can be considered a pillar of academic quality and academic success. At the ranking level, those dimensions rank first in importance, followed by “learning autonomy” (second place), ensuring an adequate learning environment (third place) and providing support services for students (fourth place).