Design and validation of a graduate profile scale and its relationship with human flourishing

Abstract

Universities play a key role in forming responsible professionals, a mission reflected in their official statements. To align with this mission, they must define a coherent graduate profile. This article proposes a measurement scale for assessing the graduate profile of undergraduate students, based on the mission statements of universities in the International Network of Universities of Regnum Christi (RIU). The scale was applied to students in Mexico (n = 1159) and Spain (n = 81). An exploratory factor analysis revealed three dimensions: relationships, leadership, and transcendence. The results show that the PERIU scale has strong psychometric qualities and convergent validity with the Secure Flourishing Measurement (SFM). The strongest link appears between PERIU's leadership dimension and SFM's character and virtue dimension, suggesting a shared foundation in virtues. These findings support using such scales for formative assessment and highlight the importance of evaluating graduate profiles to ensure fulfillment of the university mission.