Effectiveness of educational mediation at the Catholic University of Cuenca

Abstract

The study was inspired by the growing importance of mediation as an effective form of conflict resolution in a variety of fields. Mediation can avoid drawn out processes that are often costly and inconvenient for the parties involved. In the field of education, primarily at the university level, the incorporation of mediation practices is suggested as an important alternative that promotes mutual satisfaction and avoids more serious consequences. The Universidad Católica de Cuenca offers a free, internal option for mediation to the educational community through its Mediation Center. It has promoted and strengthened conflict mediation practices in cooperation with the Well-being Group which has used educational mediation based in the voluntary participation of administrative staff, teaching staff and students to promote conflict resolution. The results of the current study demonstrate that conflict mediation on an internal university level is highly effective and shows a growing interest. Seeing that the amount of conflict per academic area is directly correlated with the number of students in that area, conflicts increase with increased group density. La majority of mediations mentioned are based on Inter-student conflict