Presentation made by Professor Caroline Dominguez from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), at the EDULOG 2017 International Conference (http://conferencia2017.edulog.pt/), 25th of May 2017. The current presentation is part of the “Critical Thinking Across the Higher Education Curricula – CRITHINKEDU” project, funded by the European Commission under an Erasmus+ grant.

1. Human Capital, Higher Education and
Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the
Higher Education Curricula?
1
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Caroline Dominguez123, Gonçalo Cruz14, Rita Payan-Carreira15, Helena Silva16,
Maria M. Nascimento12 & Maria da Felicidade Morais17
1UTAD - University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
2CIDTFF – Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers, Aveiro, Portugal
3CETRAD - Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies, Vila Real, Portugal
4INESC TEC - Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, Porto, Portugal
5CECAV - Animal and Veterinary Research Centre, Vila Real, Portugal
6CIIE - Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, Porto, Portugal
7CELGA - Centre for Studies of General and Applied Linguistics, Coimbra, Portugal

2. 2
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Caroline Dominguez123, Gonçalo Cruz14, Rita Payan-Carreira15, Helena Silva16,
Maria M. Nascimento12 & Maria da Felicidade Morais17
1UTAD - University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
2CIDTFF – Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers, Aveiro, Portugal
3CETRAD - Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies, Vila Real, Portugal
4INESC TEC - Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, Porto, Portugal
5CECAV - Animal and Veterinary Research Centre, Vila Real, Portugal
6CIIE - Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, Porto, Portugal
7CELGA - Centre for Studies of General and Applied Linguistics, Coimbra, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and
Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the
Higher Education Curricula?

3. 3ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
First…
What is Critical Thinking (CT)?

4. 4ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT is not only a high quality way of thinking (skill), but also a way of
being (disposition).

5. 5ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT is ubiquitous (apply to everyday life).

6. 6ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT is strongly related with decision making and problem solving.

7. 7ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Second…
Why should we invest on it?

8. 8ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Talking about Southern Europe #1

9. 9ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Talking about Southern Europe #2

10. 10ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Talking about Southern Europe #3

11. 11ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Talking about Southern Europe #4

12. 12ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
How do you imagine the future?

13. 13ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?

14. 14ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?

15. 15ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
How is Higher Education tackling this?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/15/robots-schools-teaching-children-redundant-testing-learn-future?CMP=fb_gu

16. 16ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Companies find students not prepared enough for the
challenges of the real world/labor market
(Andrews and Higson, 2008; Jackson, 2014)

17. 17ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Students (also) find that…
(European Commission, 2013; OECD, 2015)

18. 18ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?

19. 19ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Our question is no longer why we
should invest in CT, but how...

20. 20ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
Project Number: 2016-1-PT01-KA203-
022808
Funding: European Union
Programme: Erasmus+ / KA2 Action –
Strategic Partnerships
Budget: 397 478,00€
Duration: 2016-2019
Coordinator:
University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
Partners:
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Universita Degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy
University of Western Macedonia, Greece
Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Greece
University College Dublin, Ireland
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
UC Leuven, Belgium
Siuolaikiniu Didaktiku Centras, Lithuania
University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania

21. 21ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#A1 Align CT learning outcomes with the current societal
challenges and labor market needs.

22. 22ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#A2 Deliver a set of educational strategies for teaching CT within
different domains and disciplines.

23. 23ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#A3 Propose quality assurance criteria for CT education across
universities.

24. 24ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#A4 Create a European network to share best practices and
research on CT education.

25. 25ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#WP1 A collection of CT skills needed in different professional
sectors.

26. 26ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#WP2 Review of CT educational practices in (Southern
European) HEI.

27. 27ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#WP3 Conception, testing and replication of CT courses across
the Higher Education curricula.

28. 28ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#WP4 Development of guidelines/recommendations for CT
education in HEI.

29. #WP5 Special Issue on ‘CT education in HEI curricula for 21st
century challenges’.
29ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?

30. 30ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#E1 The “European Day for CT education”

31. 31ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
#E2 The “European Meeting or CT education for 21st century
challenges”

32. 32ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT in Southern European labour market
13 focus groups interviews were carried out in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.
73 participants from 3 different professional sectors (NGO, private and public).
4 knowledge fields: Biomedicine sciences, STEM, Social sciences and Humanities.
31%
14%
46%
9%
Participants by field
Biomedicine
Sciences
STEM
Social Sciences
Humanities

33. 33ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT in Southern European labour market
Which CT skills/dispositions are most important today?
…have to be improved?
…will be needed in a near future in your organization?
Similarities and differences on CT conceptualization, operationalization and
needs between different areas and/or professional sectors.

34. 34ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
CT in Southern European Higher Education
Review of CT practices and interventions in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and
Greek Higher Education, in order to get an insight into good examples.
-> Common strategies: Peer review; Problem-based Learning; Lecture
discussions (argumentation); Subject-related assignments (writing articles,
reports and other assignments); Explicit explanation; Constructive controversy,
debates in structured cooperative groups
-> Common fields: Health, Education and Engineering.
-> Scarce intervention studies and evidence are reported (assessment
methodologies are slightly commented).
-> Few papers link CT skills to specific practices.
ALTHOUGH CT TEACHING PRACTICES ARE EMERGING IN SOUTHERN
EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, THERE IS A NEED FOR R&D.

35. 35ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: POLICIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION
25th and 26th May 2017, Porto Business School, Porto, Portugal
Human Capital, Higher Education and Regional Development in Southern Europe:
Should we invest in Critical Thinking across the Higher Education Curricula?
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