Creativity in University Courses: Perceptions of Professors and Students¹

This study addressed professors’ and students’ perception of the extent to which favorable conditions for fostering creativity exist in university courses. Thirty-five university professors and 874 of their students completed an inventory designed to evaluate the degree to which different aspects related to creativity had been fostered by these university professors. This inventory included 37 items distributed in four factors, labeled as follows: Incentive to New Ideas, Climate for Expression of Ideas: Evaluation and Teaching Methodology: and Interest for Students’ Learning. University professors, compared with their students, rated their behaviors as providing significantly more favorable conditions for the nurturing of creativity. The results suggest the need for professors to be belter equipped to create conditions that foster creativity in order to prepare students for the creative productivity that is necessary in all societies.