La enseñanza universitaria de las teorías de la comunicación en Europa y América Latina

Resum

Communication theories are one of the main pillars of many higher education studies that, placing communication as its core topic, have raised public presence during the last two decades at universities worldwide. However, this ongoing process of consolidation inside the scholar field is not walking together with an objective analysis of the ontological and epistemological positions serving as milestones for communication theories’ courses. Taking an international online survey as the initial source of information, completed by professors and lectures working at different european and Latin American countries, this paper collects some useful information about the positions and the content of these courses, bringing some light in a confusing fieldwork. If the goal of a common higher education area is real, then deep comparative studies like this must be carried out. Results appeal to a clear dominance of mass communications as the main topic inside these courses, although there is a high level of interdisciplinary approaches. Some of the requirements established by the new European Higher Education Area are not implemented in the expected competencies for the students, although they are all present in the courses’ objectives. Professors and lecturers are conscious about the new standard set by the Bologna Process, but this consciousness did not arrive to the classrooms yet.