Fostering creativity and creative thinking as innovation in higher education

Abstract

The promotion of skills and abilities in higher education refers to transversal skills associated with educational innovation in terms of improvement and commitment to it, being recognized, in turn, as a process of change. Specifically, creativity and characteristics of creative thinking such as originality, flexibility, fluency, and elaboration are referred to in divergent thinking theory. From the perspective of the educational innovation model of Murillo and Krichesky (2012) with the phases of initiation, planning, implementation, planning and institutionalization, the objective of this text is to analyze how the impulse of creativity and creative thinking has been in order to observe to what extent are these transversal skills being developed in higher education, which can contribute to studies in creative areas such as design. As a method, the documentary analysis technique is followed, aimed at collecting, analyzing and categorizing research on the development of skills and abilities in higher education. Finally, the findings show the expression of problems in the development of these skills, and there are fewer innovation proposals or successful institutionalization cases, highlighting the relevance of actions that promote these skills in higher education.