This chapter provides an overview of knowledge management from the perspective of academicians in higher education in Mexico, after considering that intellectual capital consists of human capital, structural capital and relational capital, and that is the main source of knowledge in educational institutions. It also offers four fundamental aspects proposed by knowledge economy for the production, distribution and use of knowledge in organizations. Finally, an assessment tool for knowledge management in higher education schools is proposed.
TopGlobalised Perspective On Education
Today, more than at any other moment in the modern history of Mexico, higher education (HE) is compelled to address the multiple challenges. The rising population at age of enrolling in this educational level, the Mexican people’s desire for growth, as well as Mexico’s international commitments, converge and allow defining the necessary educational policies, in the last decades at a national level.
Thus, that higher education is seen as a very important and vital preparation stage for the social and economic development of the country. Higher education is also understood as that “higher education as self-learning goes beyond the notion of the students as a market consumer, it implies to invest in himself as human capital because the attributes and qualifications acquired in education change what a person can do.” (Marginson, 2013). This reflection stands the relevance of HE for the transformation of people, societies and countries.
When the Sector Program of Education (SPE) 2013-2018 is revised, the worst worry, and the commitment of the Mexican state with higher-education are the coverage of education. It is also observed, that any specific aims or strategies with referred courses of action are established for the use or application of knowledge management in higher education as a key element to face the globalisation challenges.
However, in this program there can be found courses of action in which knowledge management is perceived at the bottom, with the aim to strengthen the quality and pertinence of education through the generation and dissemination of knowledge that has an impact on Mexico’s development, promoting knowledge networks where the institutions of higher education can participate with the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT, for its acronyms in Spanish).
Equally, if an analysis is done about the courses of action of the strategies and objectives of the SEP, it is possible to detect in these the presence of activities belonging to knowledge management, without being mentioned in detail.
As follows and in regard to the observation previously made, the objectives, strategies and courses of action are identified in the SEP implicitly related to knowledge management.