La formación universitaria española sobre organización de eventos: retos del sector / Spanish university training in events managment: challenges of the sector

Abstract

The events sector moves around 6,900 million euros a year, and provides jobs for thousands of professionals. The digitization of our era has transformed the way we communicate and, therefore, the way events are organized, presented and disseminated. On the other hand, the transformations that the communication sector has undergone in recent years highlight the training needs that the labor market demands. The digitization of content, the change in the brand-consumer relationship or the organization of events are sectors that are especially in need of new professional profiles. Events as unique spaces that offer added value transformed by the digital presence in social media, the contribution of influencers, the use of apps, the use of streaming or gamification, are some of the tools that need this update in training. The management of good digital communication in events allows, among other things, to identify experts and prescribers, create a community around the event, broadcast live activities, virtual networking, create an online debate before, during and after the event, etc. Therefore, future event organizers should have a multidisciplinary training and with very defined skills such as knowledge of new 2.0 technologies, versatility and adaptability, as well as creative and strategic capacity. In fact, not all actions communicate by themselves, they must be accompanied by quality actions and commitments. The need for new professional profiles in the different areas of communication is a reality pointed out and studied both from the institutional and academic spheres. The objective of the work presented here is to carry out a descriptive exploratory study of the degrees currently offered by these studies in Spanish universities, to check whether they respond to the training needs demanded by the sector at present. The methodological approach used to address the study presented is qualitative-quantitative, specifically using content analysis as an ideal technique in social science studies related to communication. A mixed quantitative-qualitative methodology and a content analysis are carried out as a study technique of the analyzed sample: all postgraduate and undergraduate degrees related to the Organization of Events published in RUCT (Registry of Universities, Centers and Titles). In the first term, the more formal aspects of the sample degrees are analyzed, both in master's degrees and in degrees, to establish their basic characteristics in analysis files that collected the following qualitative variables: name of the university, type of degree. Second, a content analysis of the study plans of the selected postgraduates is carried out, using the information hosted on the web pages of each university as a source of access. Among other conclusive results, the research reflects the timid bet that the Spanish university makes for training in a sector that moves a large number and jobs in Spain. Especially in the public university, since only one university offers a postgraduate degree in this area, compared to the six offered by the private university. Likewise, it is found that professional careers change according to work scenarios, and a certain lack of incorporation of emerging profiles into the evolution of the sector is observed, so a more precise interrelation between profile-task / function-specialization should be established.