At the present time, a widely used term is that of "professional competences." Therefore, research on the conceptual treatment of this category becomes decisive, while science with its social function allows preventive, corrective and retroactive measures to be taken to guide the correct interpretation and perception of the phenomena that occur in social life. This article briefly analyzes the conceptual treatment of the category "professional competences"; significant issue for the training of professionals in various contexts, issue that requires the participation of the scientific community as guarantor and dynamic element of the development of these competences and of the global society as a whole. It is concluded that although there are advances in the conceptualization of the term, the investigation remains open not reaching consensus on this problem.