Demographic characteristics of dental students in six Argentine universities

Abstract

Introduction: A new generation of students, the Millennials generation has emerged as a consequence of structural changes in the context of globalization of University Education and social and technological development. Objectives: Identify demographic characteristics of the undergraduate student population in six dental schools of Argentina included in this study. Estimate the time of development of the career and compare the enrollment of incoming students 2018 for ten years, in the faculties of Dentistry of the national public universities of Córdoba and Buenos Aires. Methods: cross-sectional observational study was conducted in dental students of six national public and private universities in Argentina, based on directed questions. They were analyzed by means of the statistical tests: ANOVA and Chi-Square. In all cases, the level of significance was 95% (p <0.05).Results: The highest age average corresponds to the students of the University of Buenos Aires (U.B.A), while the highest percentage of female students stands out in the National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo).The average duration of years of the career is greater at the National University of Córdoba (U.N.C.). The difference in student enrollment in 2018 is heterogeneous in the universities. There were no significant fluctuations between the UNC and UBA in ten years. Conclusion: The monitoring programs allow identifying the structural and functional dynamics of the student population and their learning needs over time to adapt the programs and curriculum to the demographic and epidemiological changes in the country; customs, culture and technological advances are permanent challenges to achieve competitiveness and improve teaching work.