**1. Introduction**

The recommendations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2019 [1], report on competencies in Mexico, the current model of the Mexican competency system, has an opportunity to rethink actions aimed at strengthening the model. For this reason, the proposal of this article is based on the challenges indicated by the OECD to develop the welfare and social progress policies of the federal government of Mexico, sectoral analyzes of the strategic national programs have been generated as an identification of the sectoral gaps at the national level and with it the reorientation of actions and priorities of applied research projects from the higher education sector, as well as the national model and the effective methodology to move to the next stage of the development of the strategic economic sectors, facing the challenges of globalization and the needs of relevant and competitive occupational profiles in the face of the Industry 4.0 revolution and the generational transition to Industry 5.0. Likewise, awareness of empowerment about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the UN 2030 Goals [2], which makes it imperative to build a model and an appropriate methodology for professional skills and research, making clear the differentiation of the eight levels and their requirements for training, alignment, evaluation, and eventual certification of job skills, professional skills, and applied research skills, with social impact and territorial development, encouraging local capacities with linkages that influence social innovation and with startup and spinoff-type ventures.

This article is based on the development of three scientific research projects registered at the national level at the National Technological of Mexico:


All the above is intended to generate data on the relevance of the programs of study and the effectiveness of the competitions labor, professional, and research, as well as evaluate the results of the graduates in the context of regional development and productive vocations relevant in northwestern Mexico. The purpose of the project is to examine the employability of students and graduates, as well as analyze the causes of the student dropout rate in engineering, which is about 40% during the first semester. The high dropout rate may be related to the socioeconomic factors affecting northern border cities, which have experienced an influx of migrants arriving from Southern Mexico. Until now, the research has focused on sectoral studies related to the postgraduate master's degree in administration at the Technological Institute of Tijuana and the systematic development of projects related to various strategic sectors of industry [5] in which initiatives have been created for applied research programs through postgraduate theses, social service programs, complementary credits in educational programs and professional residences (professional practices).

This research focused on the development of an electronic survey that could systematically collect key information for the creation of an electronic empirical database for the development of a web page that will serve to assess employability and performance, as well as to track results. economic and strategic of students and graduates of engineering and economic-administrative sciences. The aim was to identify variables that could generate feedback on the causes of student dropout rates, as this can have a significant impact on students' families and futures, as well as their communities. In

*Perspective Chapter: Prospective of Sectoral Competences for the Design of Dictionaries… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109457*

addition, the development of this survey can provide valuable information on the effectiveness of educational programs and learning tools, especially for students who work and study simultaneously. Also, an empirical database to monitor the employability and career outcomes of graduates could be a strategic tool that could provide useful information for other technological institutes, such as those located in Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, and other higher education institutions in Baja California and a national benchmark, and thereby strengthen strategies of relevance and social entrepreneurship seeking sectoral well-being through the social and solidarity economy [6].

### **2. Theoretical framework (state-of-the-art)**

The scientific research project focused on the creation of a methodological proposal called dictionaries of sectoral competences, part of the learning curve generated by more than a decade of applied research in different sectors through the QHS methodology for sectoral integration; which considers a multidisciplinary work with specialists representing the government sector, universities, companies, associations, clusters, and consultants. In order to analyze the gaps in the human capital agendas for their full labor, professional, research, and innovation development. Under the leadership of the technological higher education institutions, encouraging competitiveness through educational relevance for the development of innovation and sustainability ecosystems.

This research employed a systematic approach with the QHS methodology developed [7, 8] to cover all aspects of society; therefore, sectoral experts were contacted, such as government, educational, business, professional associations, chambers, as well as specialized consultants.

**Figure 1** presents a chronological review of the state-of-the-art on competencies for professional development. In 1973, the article was published "Measuring competencies and not intelligence." [9] Under initiatives of applied research projects from the academy, case studies have been developed, aimed at systematizing and generating a database that generates the variables that become labor, professional, and research skills, based on the professional careers of the Department of Sciences. Administrative economics of the National Technological of Mexico Tijuana Campus, and thereby facilitate the development of the focus group processes to convene review processes, update study plans, graduation competencies, and specialties required by the interest groups that eventually become the main employers of higher education graduates. Under a natural process, they become candidates for supervisory, coordination, managerial, or even managerial-level positions. In specific cases, they are children of businessmen, who require skills to join the board of directors of family businesses or corporate groups.

The prospective goals for the implementation of circular economy models in SMEs in Baja California, as well as the enterprises and practices of the social economy and social innovation, require the human capital agenda that integrates variables of technical skills, soft skills, and transversal competences under the skills approach, on knowledge, intervention methodologies, as well as tools and instruments to strengthen efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity, and with it the robust concept of competitiveness, including future skills in managing the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 goals through the nodes of social and solidarity economies (NODESS) programs.

In this line of development of human talent management, in 1985, the National Council for the Evaluation and Certification of Labor Competence [10] was created as a Federal Government entity under the Ministry of Public Education, with the aim of

**Figure 1.** *Timeline of the transition from training to competencies. Reference: Own elaboration (2022).*

contributing to raising the level of economic competitiveness, educational development, and social progress of people, in the country, through the national system of people competences and defines the labor competence standards in light of the challenges identified and indicated by the OECD.

In the 90s and as a result of the international standards of the International Organization for Standardization, the competencies of human resources in organizations are defined based on four components: education, experience, training, and skills, and with it generate technical standards for its definition. In 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved the application of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) [11], The nine educational levels begin with the first instance of learning (0), elementary (1), secondary (2), baccalaureate (3), technologist (4), higher technician (5), bachelor's degree (6), master's degree (7), and PhD (8).

The chronological phases of the conceptual transformation of the term competencies are derived from two philosophical approaches.


#### *Perspective Chapter: Prospective of Sectoral Competences for the Design of Dictionaries… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109457*

The competencies reflect the product of experience, performance, and good practices developed throughout the productive life of the economically active population; therefore, the level of international competitiveness of a country.

As part of their studies, defined that the characteristics of the competencies are made up of a set of attributes (enumerated) of the individual, not limited to knowledge, but include skills, attitudes, communication, and personality, in other words, it takes into consideration all work elements, not limited to just knowledge [12]. According to specialized studies on competencies, it is concluded that competencies can be measured with assessment instruments. In the case of theoretical knowledge, questionnaires are developed; in the case of know-how skills, rubrics are developed with checklists with specific criteria for a product or service to be developed. And in the case of the evaluation of attitudes, performance guides are developed with specific criteria of behaviors and universal ethical values.

In the year 1994, four classifications of professional competencies were described [13]:


The state-of-the-art on study approaches based on the evolution of performance competencies in individuals chronologically since the eighties were associated with abilities and hallmarks of extraordinary talent in isolation. In such a way that success in professional performance was correlated to the individual cognitive qualities, for which the competencies evolve toward a more complex definition that protects competencies as functional personality configurations made up of knowledge, skills, motives, and values. **Table 1** describes the typology of competencies necessary for work, professional, and research development, as well as soft skills and transversal competencies for managerial development. The professional competence approach and models consolidate the elements necessary to cover the needs of people, companies, and society.

In the field of professional competencies, the research-based approach defines three main conceptions [14]:



#### **Table 1.**

*Contribution to the SDGs by the NODESS Tijuana project.*

3.Constructivist: Competences are processes of constant evolution in individuals, learning as a factor of empowerment of the relationship of the performance of activities, responsibilities, and experiences acquired in the different roles of the learning curve of professional experience.
