Public Universities In Spain Research Articles

Bibliometric Analysis of Spanish Doctoral theses on Public Relations (2006-2021)

Objective: The aim of this article is to conduct a comprehensive and detailed analysis of doctoral theses in the field of public relations carried out at public universities in Spain between 2006 and 2021. This analysis seeks to identify and understand the main dimensions researched, the thematic and methodological evolution, and the contribution of these studies to both the professional practice and theoretical framework of public relations. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is built upon the historical evolution of public relations in both the academic and professional spheres. It acknowledges changes in social demands for greater effectiveness and rigor in research outcomes in this field. Previous studies documenting the transition in methods and approaches used in public relations will be reviewed, emphasizing those that have marked milestones in the integration of theory and practice. Additionally, prevailing theoretical models and how they have been challenged and expanded by recent research will be analyzed. Method: The study employs an exploratory and descriptive methodological design. Content analysis was used to dissect and categorize information systematically for analyzing the doctoral theses. Theses were selected through a purposive sampling of documents available in Spanish academic databases, ensuring that these studies encompass various dimensions and approaches within the field of public relations. Variables such as thematic focus, methodologies employed, and the theoretical and practical contributions of each thesis were assessed. Results and Discussion: This bibliometric study reveals a predominance of doctoral theses in public relations in Spain focused on practical applications, demonstrating a primarily instrumental view of the discipline as a marketing tool. There is a marked imbalance towards applied research, with limited interest in theoretical development, suggesting a lack of exploration of public relations as a strategic and executive function. The scarcity of works that integrate public relations into global marketing strategies and their operational focus highlight an opportunity to expand its strategic role. These findings indicate the need to strengthen theoretical and strategic research in the field, which could enrich both the practice and teaching of public relations, strengthening its position as an essential discipline in organizational management. Originality/Value: This article contributes originality to the field of public relations by providing one of the first exhaustive systematizations of doctoral theses in this area in Spain. The review covers a significant fifteen-year period, allowing for observation of trends and changes in academic research in public relations. The value of this study lies in its ability to identify how demands for rigor and empirical relevance have shaped academic research, thus contributing to a better understanding of the field's evolution and offering a solid foundation for future research aimed at effectively integrating theory and practice.

Women's participation in university management in Spain: The case of Andalusian universities.

This study addresses the presence of women in the management of Andalusian public universities, Spain. The aim of this study is to determine the representation of women in the administration and management of the administrative units of Andalusian public universities at faculty and department level, as well as to identify the distribution of university administration in terms of gender of managers in university centres according to the different macro-areas of the division of scientific knowledge. The method used was a descriptive study with quantitative and ex post facto values. A sample was selected from all public universities in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, which represent 20% of all public universities in Spain. Information was collected from all academic units and the gender of each responsible administrator was determined. The data were deposited in a virtual repository. The results revealed that, in general, there is a disproportion in the predominance of male managers and administrators compared to the number of women involved in university management tasks in Andalusia. Imbalances in gender representation at different levels of management were observed, reflecting the inequalities reported in the literature. This study confirmed the existence of gender biases in university management, aligning with existing literature, which highlights the importance of addressing gender inequalities from a holistic perspective. The findings underline the importance of continuing to work on promoting gender equality in university management through multi-factorial approaches and concrete actions.

Knowledge politics and labor precariousness in Spanish universities: implications for social anthropology

Neoliberal reforms arising from Spain’s entrance into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have had major consequences for academic practice and unleashed heated debate in the university community and society. This article explores the main transformations and basis of the political-economic model of public universities in Spain. It focuses on two dimensions of the institutional framework that have had a significant impact on teaching and research practice in universities: the strategic focus of research policy and labor regulations and employment conditions. To address both dimensions, the analysis centers on the implications each has for the reproduction of a specific discipline, social anthropology, in the context of the University of Seville. The article describes some of the main factors conditioning and limiting these two dimensions, in particular how business logic and neocolonialism are driving new research policy and how a combination of neoliberal organization of labor, meritocracy and clientelist networks are impact hiring practices and intensifying labor precarization.

Entrepreneurial university ecosystems: does the country's level of development differently affect the students entrepreneurial intention A perspective from public universities in Spain and Mexico

Entrepreneurial university ecosystems: does the country's level of development differently affect the students entrepreneurial intention A perspective from public universities in Spain and Mexico

Experience sampling methods for the personalised prediction of mental health problems in Spanish university students: protocol for a survey-based observational study within the PROMES-U project

IntroductionThere is a high prevalence of mental health problems among university students. Better prediction and treatment access for this population is needed. In recent years, short-term dynamic factors, which can...

Research data services (RDS) in Spanish academic libraries

Research data services (RDS) are actions undertaken to provide researchers with support, advising, training, information, a technological infrastructure and a regulatory framework with respect to research data management (RDM) throughout the life cycle of the data. The implementation of RDS is an activity that is becoming increasingly important within the functions carried out by academic and research libraries. The aim of this study is to provide a snapshot of the research data services implemented in academic libraries in public universities in Spain, identifying the number and types of services deployed. We conducted a Website Content Analysis of the libraries of the 48 Spanish public universities to discover which RDS they are implementing and promoting. The results show that, despite a lack of institutional policies regarding research data, libraries are deploying these new services, albeit unevenly in terms of both the number of services and the type of support provided. Services related to development of the data management plan (DMP) and preservation of the data in repositories predominate. This inventory is presented as a first step towards learning the level of RDS implementation in Spanish academic libraries, providing a partial perspective and leading the way to exploring other aspects in greater depth in future studies.

The Knowledge Sharing Capability in Innovative Behavior: A SEM Approach from Graduate Students’ Insights

The capability to share knowledge is considered one of the most relevant components of knowledge management. Moreover, there is little empirical evidence indicating how future human resources in the construction industry value the richness of knowledge sharing and the richness of their innovative behavior. The purposes of this study are (1) to determine which facilitators, from the point of view of master's degree students related to engineering and construction management in Spain, most substantially influence knowledge sharing capability; (2) to test whether knowledge sharing capability (KS) positively influences innovative behavior (IB); and (3) demonstrating whether organizational innovation climate (OIC) is a factor that moderates the relationship between KS and IB. In this research, we have proposed a theoretical model and empirically tested the model in a sample of 253 master's degree students in public universities in Spain. The findings support the proposed model, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) evaluation suggests that, among all the facilitators of KS, information and communication technologies (ICT) stand out among the other facilitators and have a more significant influence on KS. Furthermore, the research found a direct correlation between KS and IB and causal links between OIC and IB.

English Literature Students at Spanish University Have Positive Perceptions Towards but Limited Understanding of Online Resources

A Review of: Roig-Marín, A., & Prieto, S. (2021). English literature students' perspectives on digital resources in a Spanish university. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102461 Abstract Objective – To assess students’ perception, use, and format preferences of library resources. Design – Online survey questionnaire. Setting – A public university in Spain. Subjects – 134 second-year, third-year, and fourth-year undergraduate English language and literature students. Methods – An anonymous survey was built using Google Forms and shared with eligible participants during March and April 2021. Survey participation was voluntary, although students were encouraged to respond and were provided with class time to do so. Nonetheless, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time of this study, courses were taught in a hybrid (both in-person and online) format and class attendance was not mandatory. The survey consisted of six multiple choice and four open-ended questions, and answers were required for all 10 questions. Main Results – Respondents were mostly satisfied with the available resources in supporting their studies in English literature and culture, with the majority preferring to access resources online (51%) or through both online and print formats (14%). Convenience was the most commonly cited reason for favoring online access, while improved processing and learning were mentioned by those preferring print. A majority of respondents also indicated they have used online resources from either their home university library (72%) or other libraries (55%). Conversely, 29% of the respondents were unable to identify any specific electronic resources. Conclusion – Study results indicate that Spanish undergraduate students majoring in English literature generally have a positive perception of library resources in supporting their studies and prefer online access over print. However, many of these students may also have an incorrect or limited understanding of how to differentiate between library resources, general websites, web search engines, or computer programs.

Co-patenting, co-ownership, and co-ideation as drivers for university business innovation: the case of public universities in Spain

PurposeThis paper explores whether, in the context of university–industry (U–I) collaboration, new innovation strategies can be developed through actors' interactions, the exchange of resources and the co-creation of value for and within the system. In the context of the U–I relationship, the innovation perspective can highlight the need to develop strategies that elicit new formulas of value co-creation, which then facilitate innovation as a result of actor collaboration.Design/methodology/approachA total of 45 public universities in Spain, representing 95% of the total, participated in qualitative research. Personal in-depth interviews with technology transfer officers (TTOs) were conducted by an external firm; in a second phase, two of the researchers conducted eight interviews with the directors of TTOs in those universities with higher rates of transfer.FindingsFindings reveal that enterprises with a technological focus are strengthening their relationships with universities and attempting to build a university business ecosystem by designing strategies for value co-creation such as co-ownership, co-patenting, and co-invention.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical research is conducted in Spain, and results should be interpreted according to this context. Future research should examine new contexts (other countries) to improve the robustness of the data and enrich the results, thus enabling generalization of the management consequences.Originality/valueThe results provide a means to design strategies under a new collaborative and innovating logic. The theoretical framework contributes to theory, with implications for management.

Analysis of the Emotional Exhaustion Derived From Techno-Stress in the Next Generation of Qualified Employees.

This study analyses the emotional exhaustion of students inhigher education, derived from the extremely technology-relatedstrain associated to the current COVID-19 pandemic in a conservation of resources’ approach. Technostress, as source of emotional exhaustion, was investigated in a sample of 333 students in a medium size public university in Spain. Data was collected in May 2020, during the COVID lockdown. After literature review, a structural model was developed, linking technostress with emotional exhaustion. Results confirm the expected cause-effect relationships. In addition, the study reveals two mediator variables that must be considered when managing students′ suffering, perceived stress and intrapersonal conflicts. This study contributes to the academic literature in the field of managing and mitigating suffering. They do so by providing both new knowledge and empirical evidence on the effects of technostress in the new generations that will soon join the working life.

Risky Behaviours of Spanish University Students: Association with Mediterranean Diet, Sexual Attitude and Chronotype.

The most common drugs that are consumed by young people are alcohol and tobacco, which are especially prevalent in universities. These risk behaviours can be determined by a series of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the consumption of alcohol and tobacco by Spanish university students and the relationship between the Mediterranean diet, sexual attitudes and opinions, and chronotype. A multicentre observational study enrolled 457 students from two public universities in Spain. The study period was from December 2017 to January 2018. The majority of the participants consumed alcohol (90.2%), tobacco consumption was low (27.2%), with a high percentage of students (78.6%) having a low dependence on nicotine. The surveyed students demonstrated a high adherence to the Mediterranean diet, which was shown to be associated with less risky alcohol consumption. The Mediterranean diet is a part of healthy lifestyle, and avoiding heavy drinking results in the intention to maintain such a lifestyle. In addition, unhealthy eating habits (skipping breakfast, eating sweets and pastries daily, and fast-food consumption) had a tendency to induce risky alcohol consumption. Therefore, to promote healthy lifestyle habits, it is considered important to establish programs that promote healthy diets in university settings and to evaluate them periodically.

Size efficiency, splits and merger gains, and centralized resource reallocation of Spanish public universities

In this paper, the Spanish public university system is thoroughly analyzed in order to maximize its efficiency. First, the current technical and size efficiency of the different universities is assessed and those that should be split are identified. In a second phase, bearing in mind that it is the regional governments that supervise and control the public universities in Spain, the gains from potential mergers of universities within each Spanish region are individually evaluated. The third and last phase consists of reallocating the transferable resources between the universities within each region. The efficiency gains provided by each of these phases are quantified and added up, which leads to a significant efficiency improvement and a revised, optimal sector structure.

Development of critical thinking skills of undergraduate students throughout the 4 years of nursing degree at a public university in Spain: a descriptive study

ObjectiveTo analyse the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in the four academic years of the nursing degree at a public university belonging to the European Higher Education Area.DesignCross-sectional, quantitative,...

Prospective primary teachers’ views on the nature of science

This article presents the results of a piece of research that analyzed the views on the nature of science (NOS) among student teachers enrolled in programs of Primary Education at two public universities in Spain. Previous studies have reported that science teachers maintain ‘eclectic’ epistemological perspectives on science; in this article, we test if such a hypothesis holds when teachers’ NOS ideas are ‘anchored’ in specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science. We studied 114 prospective teachers attending an undergraduate teaching course with emphasis on the natural sciences at the Universities of Burgos and Valladolid in the period of 2017-18. A Likert-scale questionnaire with 50 items was applied to determine trends in those teachers’ epistemological views on science. The results showed that teachers’ views are mostly correlated with the philosophical period of Logical Positivism/Received View, and to some extent to the period of Recent and Contemporary Accounts. Regarding the classical epistemological topics of correspondence, methodologies, intervention, evolution and representation, teachers’ views could be related to the period of Logical Positivism/Received View and Critical Rationalism, but also to the New Philosophy of Science. The main conclusion of this study is that teachers’ expressed views on NOS are epistemologically eclectic to a much smaller degree when examined with more detail concerning specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science.

ESTUDIO INTERREGIONAL COMPARADO DE LA EDUCACIÓN MATEMÁTICA EN LA FORMACIÓN INICIAL DEL PROFESORADO DE EDUCACIÓN PRIMARIA

En este artículo se analiza la formación inicial en Educación Matemática del Grado en Educación Primaria en las universidades públicas de España. El objetivo es estudiar el tipo de conocimiento matemático presente en los planes de estudio de estas titulaciones. Para ello se realiza un estudio comparado de las guías docentes, cuyo análisis parte de dos parámetros de comparación, basándose en el informe TEDS-M International: el conocimiento del contenido matemático y el conocimiento del contenido pedagógico. Los principales resultados obtenidos muestran una gran variabilidad en la distribución del número y carácter de ECTS ofertados; y el predominio del conocimiento del contenido matemático en relación al contenido pedagógico.

We’re new to this. Diversity agendas in public Spanish universities according to their leaders

ABSTRACT The debate about diversity in Spanish universities is fairly recent, and indeed non-existent from the perspective of leadership. This paper examines the descriptions and justifications given by leaders of public universities in Spain with regard to institutional diversity agendas, as well as actions taken or planned to include traditionally excluded collectives within higher education. A total of 32 public university leaders were interviewed from 5 universities. Results show different interpretations of diversity agendas, with them being explained in different ways and being perceived as having different purposes (naturalization, difference, and inequality). Each interpretation is differentiated by its reach, motivation, stance with regard to the institution, target groups, and proposals. Reports overlap and share three common agendas. This demonstrates a lack of clarity around conceptions of diversity and shows the impact of assuming different standpoints when exercising leadership to evaluate a given agenda.

Female Employees' Perception of Breastfeeding Support in the Workplace, Public Universities in Spain: A Multicentric Comparative Study.

Background: Despite scientific recommendations for exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and complementary breastfeeding to 2 years of age, breastfeeding abandonment rates increase with time, and one of the main reasons is that women go back to work. Aim: To analyze the perception of support of breastfeeding workers to continue breastfeeding at two Spanish universities, and associated factors. Methods: A multicenter retrospective cross-sectional comparative study conducted in a population of 777 female workers at the Universidad de Sevilla (US) and the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) in Spain using an online questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 38.74% (n = 301). Of all the participants, 57.8% continued breastfeeding after returning to work. The factors associated with continuing breastfeeding for longer were the university having a breastfeeding support policy and special accommodation (p < 0.001); participating in breastfeeding support groups (p < 0.001); intending to continue breastfeeding after returning to work (p < 0.001); knowing the occupational legislation in force (p = 0.009); having a female supervisor (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Breastfeeding support initiatives and having special accommodation to pump and preserve breast milk after returning to work are associated with a longer duration of female workers’ breastfeeding.

Gender differences in the perception of the Quality of College Life in Spanish University

Through the current research, we intend to analyse how students differ in their levels of quality of college life (QCL) according to gender, and how this relates to overall quality of life (QoL) and loyalty [measured by Identification and word of mouth (WoM)] to their specific university. The survey included 243 students attending public university in Spain. The results obtained through the analysis of data allow affirming that there are differences between women and men both in the configuration of the quality of their college life and in its effect on the loyalty shown towards the college. This paper contributes towards an improved comprehension regarding the differences between the students according to their gender, so that managers can develop strategies better adapted to students.

Reformulando la comunicación institucional de la universidad pública española desde el enfoque de la comunicación participativa

La teoría y la práctica de la comunicación institucional de las universidades públicas en España tienen un marcado carácter corporativo e instrumental. En esta investigación se discute la posibilidad de implementar una planificación y gestión comunicativa centradas en priorizar procesos comunicativos más horizontales y participativos. Para ello, se realiza un estudio cualitativo empleando la técnica del panel Delphi con 10 investigadores e investigadoras destacadas de universidades españolas, cuyas líneas de investigación están enmarcadas en la comunicación participativa o para el cambio social. El estudio evidencia que la apuesta por un modelo de comunicación institucional universitaria participativa requeriría el convencimiento y la implicación de la comunidad universitaria al completo y conllevaría que se estableciesen procedimientos y mecanismos que garanticen la transversalidad de la comunicación así como la presencia activa de los diferentes grupos intra y extrauniversitarios que conforman la institución en el diagnóstico, diseño, ejecución y evaluación de la comunicación institucional.

Female employees' perception of breastfeeding-friendly support in a public university in Spain.

To explore women's experience with continuing breastfeeding when they returned to work. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were female employees at the University of Seville who gave birth in the last 10years while working at University. A questionnaire in Spanish was used to collect information on sociodemographic variables, employment characteristics, continued breastfeeding behavior after returning to work and the dimensions of the validated scale the Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale (WBSS). A total of 197 women responded, consisting of 53.8% faculty and 46.2% administrative staff. Almost all the women had breastfed their children (92.9%). The proportion of women who continued to breastfeed after they returned to work was 51.3%. The main reason given for interrupting lactation was the challenge of reconciling family and work (53.1%). Faculty members took more breaks for breastfeeding (p=0.002) and were able to arrange their breaks more easily (p<0.001). Since it was easier for them to find a quiet place to pump breast milk (p=0.025), they were more likely to continue breastfeeding after returning to work than were administrative staff (59.8% vs. 41.1%, p<0.009). A designated lactation space and amenities should be provided in order to extend the duration of breastfeeding.