Mendive. Journal on Education, October-December 2025; 23(4), e4472
Translated from the original in Spanish

Book presentation

Training of competent professionals and sustainable development

Formación de profesionales competentes y desarrollo sostenible

Formação de profissionais competentes e desenvolvimento sustentável

Fátima Addine Fernández¹ 0009-0006-3870-9711 fatimaaddine@gmail.com

¹ Retired by the Evaluation Directorate of the Ministry of Higher Education. La Habana, Cuba.

Bibliographic record

Breijo Worozs, T., Rovira Álvarez, Y. (2025). Training of competent professionals and sustainable development.
Pinar del Río: Editorial LiberCiencia. ISBN: 978-959-85021

At the beginning of the 21st century, the generation of knowledge, and the speed with which it is produced, makes it necessary not only to appropriate and accumulate it, but also to reflect on its very structure, as the most essential way of its construction and development; which is based on scientific research.

Rethinking the problem of training competent professionals is justified by the peculiarities of the object of educational sciences, as well as by the shortcomings and limitations identified in the review of numerous results in Educational Sciences.

The results obtained in the various research projects of the University of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", as well as the collaborative work carried out with other universities and institutions at the national level, support a proposal for a theoretical and methodological platform that encompasses undergraduate programs, continuing education, and a developmental and professionalizing didactic conception of the training of competent professionals in the function of sustainable development.

The elaboration of the compendium Training of competent professionals and sustainable development: challenges from a professionalized and developmental perspective, by the authors Taimy Breijo Worozs and Yudith Rovira Álvarez, with their main findings on this topic, connect the essential links between the fundamental milestones in the development of research, science, and innovation in educational practice. Furthermore, it constitutes one of the most cherished aims of Cuban Higher Education studies, from the professional training process at the higher education level, modeled on a shared university-business approach, and from the training of university professors to promote comprehensive management for sustainable development. All of the above corresponds to the following principle: "…things should not be studied in the systems that govern them; but in the way they are applied and in the results they produce" (Martí, OC, vol. 8, p. 57).

This compilation systematizes all the scientific results achieved by the various projects applied consciously and scientifically, in accordance with diverse specific social conditions, and should contribute to greater integration of the unity and diversity of Higher Education. Therefore, it should contribute to developing and expanding the theoretical framework of educational sciences, its object of study, methods, areas of knowledge, and lines of research that contribute to transforming reality and could serve as a reference for guiding the organization of educational programs, as well as evaluating the meaning of the research-science-innovation relationships on the impact of the quality of the multi-process training, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The adopted approach is based on a process of reorganizing science in the country and at the University of Pinar del Río, which has allowed the formation of a solid and coherent line of research that is linked to others at the institutional level. The results demonstrate that: "The first duty of a man these days is to be a man of his time. Not to apply other people's theories, but to discover his own. Not to hinder his country with abstractions, but to inquire into how to put useful ones into practice" (Martí, OC, vol. 7, p. 99).

The interinstitutional and intersectoral approach has allowed progress in understanding the challenges faced by professionals in their training process, both in the academic field and in their integration with society; as well as the recognition that learning is multidimensional due to its content, processes and conditions and that research acquires functions of guidance, projection and creation where theories that allow knowledge are identified and offer the possibility of starting a path for addressing a problem.

Therefore, in the various multi-process training programs, the results presented in the three parts imply a reconceptualization and specificity that ranges from the epistemological to its management in professional practice. This is why, through the content, the processes of nature, thought, and society are recognized as objective reality, modeled from a dialectical and integrative perspective. This perspective reveals the need for diverse scientific approaches as research alternatives, but grounded in a solid epistemological, theoretical, methodological, and practical foundation.

All of this implies, at the higher education level, the need for a scientific humanism that not only prepares professionals in a specific field of culture, but also develops their capacity for critical reflection and an investigative spirit, enabling the social application of scientific, technological, and artistic research in accordance with the current realities of their context. This context is rooted in the imperative need to find solutions to multiple problems that exceed the possibilities of the exercise and practical application of known professional methods, where research becomes an indispensable working tool that allows to build knowledge in the midst of a dynamic and constantly changing reality.

The results of " humanism within the professionalization process at the university " and the "theoretical-methodological framework for aesthetic training in sociocultural management" demonstrate that the Humanities are more important than ever. We become aware of the meaning and reinterpretation of who we are by encouraging the development of the highest sensitivity, a profound understanding of humanity, empathetic communication, and a critical reading of the world, among other aspects.

However, despite the clear need for investigative foundations, it is not possible to find a single path in science that makes a coherent interpretation feasible with all the investigative thought built up to the present; nor is it intended to find infallible, absolutely valid models and methods that allow us to find answers to all investigative problems and thus to the training of researchers.

The proposed compendium has the intrinsic quality of responding to the training needs of a professional in a specific context. Its theoretical and methodological value lies in this, independent of its practical implementation, because it stems from a shift in the conception of the object of study, the functions, and the professional's mode of action; it delves into the object of the profession with a sense of integrating humanistic and scientific-technical culture, in the conception of training competent professionals and in sustainable development.

Emphasis is placed on the learning environment, as more open and realistic settings are crucial for developing a better worldview and are able to overcome the challenges and obstacles faced by participants by strengthening essential relationships in each context.

The request to write the prologue is a great encouragement to me. Professional and personal development of Higher Education in Pinar del Río, will constitute an imperishable memory and a thank you to those who are here and those who are no longer here.

Similarly, I believe the group could continue investigating:

In the search for a criterion for ordering and synthesizing research discourses and practices, based on a precise and developing epistemological foundation, which allows, without losing the necessary diversity, the enrichment of a unique research identity. As José Martí said: " Facts alone explain nothing, if intelligence does not examine and enrich them" (Martí, OC, vol. 8, p. 216).

In the design of A transition strategy as a projection of a system of interrelated actions in the short, medium and long term, which allow the transformation of the multi-process training that all participants carry out in a coordinated manner, based on the diagnosis of the context, where the different projects are developed in order to achieve the proposed objectives in a specific time.

In expanding the scope of research to encompass the entire field of educational sciences, starting from the identification of needs whose solution contributes to a comprehensive improvement of education, based on the contributions that its particular object of study can offer to each of the scientific disciplines that share it as a common object of study; because as the process of integration of the sciences intensifies, the multi-processes of training demand a higher level of interdisciplinary approach, which must be based on the change of all participants.

Conflict of interest

The author declares not to have any interest conflicts.

Authors' contribution

The author designed and wrote the presentation of the book.