ANALYZING THE ICT COMPETENCIES IN SERBIA AND IN MEXICO IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this study is to identify the levels of ICT Competencies of university students from two universities, one in Serbia and the other in Mexico. The research type is quantitative and exploratory. The methodological strategy used was the replication of the instruments used by one of the authors in another international research project where perceptions of teachers and students from two Mexican universities (Veracruzana University and Chihuahua University) and one Spanish university (Salamanca University) were compared. However, in this paper the results of an exploratory study comprising just one dimension of the instruments that were applied are shown: Students' levels of ICT competencies. The instrument consists of 14 items related to three types of competencies: Basic, Application and Ethical. The reliability of the questionnaire obtained by the Cronbach technique was 0.839. The design of the instrument included the Likert scale with four categories: "Not at all, A little, Quite a lot and A lot". For the purposes of this study it is assumed that students having a certain level of competency fit into the categories "Quite a lot" and "A lot" while, the absence or deficiency in competencies is represented by "Not at all" and "A little". The quantitative data analysis was performed with SPSS software using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney independent sample U test. The situation of education in Mexico and Serbia is not so very different although each country has taken different paths in the field. It is clear that similar levels exist between students from the two countries. However, the dimension of Application Competencies presents a major difference in favor of Serbian students. Basic and Ethical Competencies show very similar values, being slightly higher for the Serbian students. The results show the Serbian students have higher levels of competencies in basic activities such as the use of applications and the use of the main informatics resources. Meanwhile, for the Slovakians, we find that their highest level of competency is participate in groups that develop project for the production of original works. Their lowest level of competency is same with the Serbians the creation of original work as a medium of communication. Serbian students show higher levels of competency in the area of ethical competencies than Mexican students. We could say that in some areas there were some significant differences between the two participating universities (University of Novi Sad and University of Vera Cruz) in reference to the students' perceptions regarding their levels of ICT Competencies. These results suggest the need to develop strategies that promote the effective use of technology resources by both students and teachers.