This study is aimed at identifying and analyzing the perceptions of professors who work on Nursing Management disciplines regarding the meaning of faculty competence at the undergraduate level. The objective is to suggest interventions that favor proposals for capacity building for the teaching of management that are compatible with teaching norms and with the current Curriculum Guidelines. In order to do so, the content analysis method was applied in twelve discourses of Nursing Management professors who teach in private institutions in the Greater São Paulo area between August and October of 2002. The meaning and perceptions reported were categorized, and the authors recommend a policy of human resources development that offers concrete opportunities that faculty development will lead to changes toward an emancipating education.
Competency-based education; Education, nursing; Professional competence