Generic Competencies: A Review of Dental Curriculum Programs in Chile

Milena Soto Araya; Josep E. Baños; Jorge Pérez & Elisabeth Moyano

Summary

The development of transversal competencies is a relevant aspect in the dental undergraduate curriculum. However, there is insufficient evidence about its implementation in national curriculums. The aim of this research was to know whether or not the courses are focused on transversal competencies in dental programs of Chilean universities. To accomplish this, a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out. This research was based on the review of the curriculums published on the websites of each university that awarded undergraduate degrees in dentistry in 2020, and facilitated an open admission process. Of the 19 universities studied, all had courses associated with transversal competencies in their dental curriculum. These were distributed throughout the six years of the curriculum. Using the grouping of transversal competencies, as proposed by the Latin America Tuning Project, it was shown that courses related to cognitive learning processes were the most represented of the subjects, corresponding to 41 % of all courses studied. Those related to social values corresponded to 34 %; courses associated with informational technology and those within the international context represented 20 %; while the courses related to interpersonal skills only reached 5 %. Due to the fact that the courses related to interpersonal skills were scarce, it could be concluded that a large part of this learning is included in the hidden curriculum and is probably achieved via instructional modeling as part of the daily clinical practice. As a proposal for the future, this research suggests that we need to improve the training in transversal competencies for the dental graduates of Chilean universities.

KEY WORDS: generic skills, professional competencies, higher education, dental education, dental schools.

How to cite this article

SOTO, A. M.; BAÑOS, J. E.; PÉREZ, J. & MOYANO, E. Generic competencies: a review of dental curriculum programs in Chile. Int. J. Odontostomat.,15(4):928-937, 2021.