Abstract

Analysis of the status of the professions of librarian, documentalist and information scientis tin Spain, studying the influence of the curriculum in the labour market. Forty percent of employers believe that graduates should have more knowledge about specific sources of information: legal, economic, health, education, etc. The profession and its programme of studies are poorly understood by society, and the terminological inconsistency between degree titles, the field of knowledge and professional institutions contributes to this problem. The number of graduates in Spain reached its maximum in 2005 (1,727) and this amount has steadily declined, to 667 in 2012.

Abstract

This paper is the result of a research carried out under the umbrella of the “UNESCO UniTWIN Network on Media, Gender, and ICTs” Project, and it tries to determine the presence of subjects with a specific focus on gender in the current Communication Degrees offered at Spanish universities. The inclusion of subjects about gender equality in relation to media follows the suggestions of the IV World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995). The main objective of this research will be to investigate the presence of these subjects in Communication Degrees, identifying the elements that define them at a thematic, methodological and relevant levels within the curriculum. A mixed methodological design is proposed based on ex-post-facto research, with a descriptive orientation and the search for improvement, a qualitative analysis of study plans using ATLAS.ti and a panel of experts. The results reveal a scarce presence of this type of subjects, with a higher percentage in public universities than in private ones, and also a minimal relevance as compulsory subjects. This research study reveals the current formal training in gender studies of future generations of media professionals and serves as an endorsement for forthcoming changes of curricula in the European Higher Education Area context.