Management of fixed-term faculty contracts at the university: An educational perspective

Abstract

The management of fixed-term teaching contracts is an essential component of the professional development of the university faculty, ensuring adequate planning, progressive professionalization, and the strengthening of the faculty's pedagogical skills, thus guaranteeing the quality of educational processes. At the University of Pinar del Río, shortcomings were identified related to a lack of familiarity with the procedure among faculty and administrators, the absence of integrated control mechanisms, and limited systematicity in document organization and evaluation, which directly impacts learning management and educational effectiveness. This article aims to propose an updated procedure for managing fixed-term teaching contracts, designed to optimize human resource management and enhance pedagogical training and educational performance. The dialectical-materialist method was used as the general approach for its development, complemented by historical-logical and systemic-structural theoretical methods, and empirical methods such as surveys, interviews, and document analysis. The designed procedure consists of seven stages and seventeen steps, integrating organizational, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions, with an emphasis on continuing education and teacher professionalization. It is concluded that the implementation of this procedure strengthens teacher professionalism, increases institutional relevance, and contributes to the continuous improvement of university management from a pedagogical perspective, ensuring that the established contracts foster the development of teaching competencies and the quality of the educational process.