This document refers to the Higher Education Quality Tests (ECAES), the controversy generated by the performance of tests in relation to the country's accounting programs, which will be carried out for the first time, the consequences that may bring for educational institutions of higher education as for students and students.
We live in a historical moment that affects educational processes
A careful analysis of local, regional, national and world events of pedagogical trends, allows us to infer that profound changes are taking place in the conceptions of man, knowledge, science, health, education, culture and the general world, and that they are giving certain favorable conditions to advance towards the realization of a purpose that has been held for many years: to raise the quality of education and guarantee to all citizens the enjoyment of its benefits.
Some problems raised around education issues are frequently dealt with by teachers, students and other social sectors; There are already shared meanings and assumed attitudes for their educational treatment.
This can speed up or hinder the task of promoting discussion and appropriation of new points of view in accordance with the characteristics, demands that must be met and the contributions that education must make in today's world.
Due to the multiple and accelerated changes that have affected and transformed the world, a little more thought has been given to educational conceptions, since if they are not anticipated or evolve simultaneously, they lose their meaning and reason for being.
This is why the Higher Education Institutions have seen the need to apply a method where the quality of future professionals can be evaluated so that they respond to the needs that today's world demands; we are talking about the State Exams for the Quality of Higher Education (ECAES).
We students who in one way or another are sincerely committed to education have the need, the capacity, the interest and the commitment to energize the construction of the Colombia that we long for.
We feel the need for change and we should not expect it from above but initiate it in and for ourselves.
With the presentation of the ECAES we are contributing to the fulfillment of that desired objective, since here the profile of competence of a student and therefore of an Institution or a training program can be recognized, and in this way favor the qualification of pedagogical practices which leads to quality improvement.
These State tests, in addition to being an evaluation method, are a legal requirement since the General Education Law (Law 115 of February 8, 1994) refers to them in Article 27.
Because of this, some institutions may have to initiate each of the processes of change that circumstances and laws require.
Fortunately, there are institutions, regions, groups of educators and students that already have a journey in one or more of these aspects; such is the case of those who have committed themselves to the investigation.
But unfortunately that is not the case for the accounting profession, since there are very few people who lean towards the accounting research side, which causes them to fall behind.
At the University of Quindío we find several research groups such as the Center for Biomedical Research, the Bengal Farm, the School of Research in Biomathematics, among others, but accounting research is hardly consolidating, therefore measures must be taken to avoid at a disadvantage because the State tests are approaching.
Purpose of higher education quality status exams
The State Exams on the Quality of Higher Education pursue a general objective, which is to assess the quality of education provided in Higher Education Institutions, but with these tests other objectives are also sought such as:
- Check minimum levels of aptitudes and knowledge. Verify knowledge and skills for issuing degrees to graduates of programs whose approval is not in force. Issue certification on approval or disapproval of courses that have been advanced in institutions in dissolution whose legal status has been suspended. or canceled.Homologize and validate degrees of Higher Education studies carried out abroad, when appropriate in the opinion of the National Council for Higher Education, CESU. (1)
These ECAES exams not only benefit or affect the student but also the Universities or Educational Institutions, since these would be recognized not only locally but nationally and therefore are listed in the educational market having much more demand from the students, because one as a student knows that by preparing for a high-quality University, they are accredited in the labor market.
In accordance with Decree 1781 of June 26, 2003, which regulates quality exams, there are the following objectives:
- Check the degree of development of the competencies of the students who are studying the last year of the undergraduate academic programs offered by the Higher Education Institutions. Serve as a source of information for the construction of evaluation indicators of the public educational service, which promotes qualification of institutional processes, the formulation of policies and facilitate the decision-making process in all levels and components of the educational system.
With these tests the Universities or Institutions can realize if the teaching method used is being effective, that is, if the proposed results are being achieved; If not, you must take the necessary measures starting by involving teachers and engaging them in the quality of teaching for this test.
Although it must be clarified that teachers must not only commit themselves to the quality of teaching for this test, but also because of what has been said: the constant change.
Graduates of Higher Education face changes in the world of organizations, such as process work, increased technological content and knowledge, service orientation, among others that require different skills as workers. those that were required just a few years ago; To this is added the decrease in the possibilities of stable work.
New ways arise for a person to generate the income required for their development: the level of quality as a professional, this is where the teacher plays an important role.
One of the ways in which the teacher can contribute to the high quality of teaching is by educating so that the student understands, since there are many teachers where they only dedicate themselves to teaching their class regardless of whether the student has understood or not, in addition to the institutions and the tests for which they prepare students generally offer very little teaching support for comprehension.
If the student understands, they will be able to develop the exams, in this case the ECAES with greater security, because "understanding is the ability to do with a topic a variety of things that stimulate thinking, such as explaining, demonstrating and giving examples, generalizing, establish analogies and re-present the topic in a new way. ”(2)
Ultimately, understanding is being able to carry out a diversity of actions or performances that demonstrate that one understands the topic and at the same time broadens it, and being able to assimilate knowledge and use it in an innovative way.
Types of results and their interpretation
The results for this exam are intended to provide information on the performance of those evaluated, both in the complete exam and in the different types of questions (academic areas or disciplinary topics) into which the exam for each degree is divided.
An individual results report is produced that includes a general score and results by groups of questions, and an institutional report that is produced for each program or career taking into account the days and semesters, and is prepared based on the results obtained by the students from each institution.
In general, the ECAES process three types of results:
- General score: It is the quantitative result obtained from the evaluation of the answers given to all the questions on the exam. Results by type of questions: They are obtained from the evaluation of the answers given to the questions in the same area, a topic or a particular problem within the exam. Percentage of responses per option: It is a result reported only to institutions and that describes how the responses of the students are distributed against each of the response options that the exam questions have.
Methodology in the elaboration of ecaes
The areas to be dealt with in accounting ECAES are:
- Basic.Professional.Social - Humanistic.
Each of these areas is divided into some items, to which a percentage is given. The total of items are 13.
The competences are interpretive, argumentative and purposeful, and the questions are usually multiple choice with a single answer or with multiple answers, although there will be more types of questions, but these are the most common.
Analysis of possible conflicts
The State has implemented the Higher Education Quality Tests for all professions, which will be presented by all the students who are in the last year of the undergraduate academic programs offered by Higher Education Institutions.
As for the accounting profession this year will be the first test to be presented.
Because these tests have already been carried out, what is expected is that the elaboration of the tests is more sensible than those already carried out in some professions; The University of Antioquia, as far as the law school is concerned, has presented some observations regarding the elaboration of the ECAES questions, which, without opposing them, assure that more work and more arduous training were lacking for the students as regards to the formulation of the questions, which lacked a broader discussion to designate the competences, items and skills to be evaluated.The ECAES currently being developed for all professions are expected to build on those previously acquired experiences and take into account the criticisms that have been put on the table by some universities regarding the tests that have been developed previously.
An important issue to be dealt with is that of University Autonomy since it lies in the possibility that universities can self-determine in the academic field, consequently the government does not have unlimited powers in the intervention of Higher Education, which implies that it cannot establish the study plans or encourage them to be built by some universities with respect to others, with the excuse of exercising surveillance and inspection over said educational sector.
The application of quality exams, although it has the laudable purpose of maintaining and measuring the quality of academic programs, involves great risks as it fosters the standardization of study plans and the curriculum, blurring the peculiarities arising from the special focus of each university.
Universities may fear not only because their prestige as an institution of good knowledge deteriorates because the performance of their students in these tests may be lower than the average of the results, but also because the accreditation process would be affected (if they were in This process).
This fear can cause universities to be forced to change their curriculum so that it is consistent with the tests.
General knowledge is that which is presumed that all people should know or know, but there can be a problem, because who presumes this and how does he presume it?
We should ask ourselves if the State Exams for the Quality of Higher Education are prepared in such a way as to inquire about what should be known or, rather, about what according to the State must be known, since it must be clear that knowledge In general, it can be seen in different ways, an example of this is the concept of double entry, where the professor Samuel Alberto Mantilla, prestigious accountant and recognized nationally, expresses it as that movement where every entry has an exit (Debit - Credit), process that for professor Harold Álvarez Álvarez means the double imputation, since he takes the double game as the transfer from the temporary to the permanent.
With this example it can be deduced that general knowledge can be taken from different points of view.
Bibliography
Cf. Guedez, Victor. Quality and education within the framework of new paradigms. In: Tablero, Nº 45. Andrés Bello Agreement. Bogotá DC, 1992.
Díaz Bautista, Omar. Comprehensive curriculum and the decrees of minimum quality standards and academic credits. In: International Journal of Accounting and Auditing Legis, No. 15. July / September, 2003, pp. 190-222.
General Education Law; Law 115 February 8 of 1994. Bogotá DC. Editorial Unión Limitada, 2.001.
Ministry of National Education. General Guidelines of Curricular Processes: Towards the construction of autonomous educational communities. Bogotá DC, 1994.
Decree 1781 of June 26, 2003.
