Educational quality as perceived by the actors involved: reflections based on a study in the Environmental Sciences course

Training professionals for the new 21st century requires universities to make major changes in their conception of teaching, which, through the active, committed participation of teachers and students, will lead to the building and developing of the competencies needed by students for them to perform efficiently, ethically and with social commitment in their future jobs. The participation of teachers and students and their commitment to quality in the teacher training process are essential elements in the search for alternative ways to enhance university teaching. This article discusses the teacher training experiences had by the author in the ICE of Madrid Polytechnic University with the inclusion of data from a study undertaken on the Environmental Sciences course of this university where teachers, students and postgraduates’ perception of the quality of their vocational training at university is an important starting point for the design of strategies aimed at enhancing the quality of teaching.