Didactics Higher Education: New Challenges in the XXI century

The article discusses the conceptual and practical problems the general didactics in the context of contemporary higher education. The first part retrieves the origins and development of didactic, then review the historical process that has had this discipline is essential to understand their situation in the present and future challenges. It also addresses the specific object of didactic, whose complexity has generated debate and controversy at different times. The second part deals with the major changes facing higher education today and in this framework is to identify some challenges in higher education, as well as the adjustments would have to produce educational institutions to address this new reality adequately. These changes are permeating the teaching-learning process, making it much more complex than before, which has meant that teachers have to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills or relearn, skills and attitudes. The focus is now the teacher's role and how the general didactics discipline may be a valuable tool that will serve to intervene more effectively in improving the educational process.