At present, the World Tourism Organization indicates that, as a worldwide export category, tourism occupies the third position, behind chemical and fuel products and ahead of the automotive industry. In many developing countries, tourism is the main export sector. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to propose an approach to the training of tourism professionals for the fourth industrial revolution, so this chapter proposes an approach to educational competencies in the training of tourism professionals for Industry 4.0 with a focus in sustainable development; initially, the subject of educational competencies in higher education will be described, since derived from these, professional competencies are achieved. Next, the exploration of the concepts of intellectual capital, tourism, and the fourth industrial revolution will be shown; to conclude the authors show the relation of the thematic axes.
TopEducational Competence In Higher Education
First, the concept of educational competencies will be addressed; Due to the polysemic nature of the word “competence”, this content describes the concept - Expertise, aptitude, suitability to do something or intervene in a specific matter. Because the Royal Spanish Academy (2018), considers different meanings for the word in question.
competition1
From lat. competentia; cf. to compete.
- 1.
f. Dispute or contest between two or more people about something.
- 2.
f. Opposition or rivalry between two or more people who aspire to obtain the same thing.
- 3.
f. Situation of companies that compete in a market offering or demanding the same product or service.
- 4.
f. Rival person or group The competition has been passed.
- 5.
f. Am. Sports competition.
competition2
From lat. competentia; cf. competent.
- 1.
f. incumbency.
- 2.
f. Expertise, aptitude or suitability to do something or intervene in a specific matter.
- 3.
f. Legal scope of powers that correspond to a public entity or to a judicial or administrative authority.
Next, a review of the conceptual contributions of the topic educational competences; defined by various authors.
According to McClelland (1973). The competences are linked to a way of evaluating what “really causes a superior performance at work”, and not “to the evaluation of the factors that reliably describe all the characteristics of a person, in the hope that some are associated with work performance”.
Chomsky (1985), based on language theories, establishes the concept and defines competencies such as capacity and disposition for performance and interpretation.
De Ketele (1996) defines the educational competences to the ordered set of abilities (activities) that are exerted on the learning contents, and whose integration allows solving the problems that arise within a category of situations. Set of tasks more or less of the same type, within a family of situations.