The university environment as a source of training in professional ethics for students

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: identify what characteristics of the university environment are recognized by students as part of their training in professional ethics. METHOD: an open interview was conducted through a virtual platform with nine students who completed the Supervised Professional Exercise in the first semester of 2022. The students were from a scientific-technological department of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. The students were selected using the snowball method. Those who agreed to participate read and signed an informed consent. A sufficient number of students were interviewed until information saturation was reached. The interviews were recorded and guided by a list of previously validated elements related to professional ethics training; The interviews were then analyzed and coded with the support of the MaxQDA2020® program. The coding was deductive using the a priori categories of school environment, department environment and university environment. RESULTS: the students mentioned that the characteristics of the university environment that are part of their training in professional ethics are: supportive community, responsibility, humanization, service, selfishness, indifference, competition, good interpersonal relationships, teaching in any field, interaction with others, volunteering, student representation, presence of women scientists and social training CONCLUSION: the university environment influences the training in students' professional ethics through fourteen characteristics, of which four refer to values, three to anti-values, three to personal interactions, two to specific activities and two to particular qualities.