The professor of Medicine and Life Sciences, Laia de Nadal (Barcelona, 1972), has been in the position of rector of Pompeu Fabra (UPF) for just under eight months, a small and innovative university with a strong research and international character. She has good results in teaching (in first Spanish positions in performance rate, graduation, employability and lower dropout), she is competitive in research (she captures 15% of the Catalan system) and in knowledge transfer. She is among the top 200 in the world according to the Times Higher ranking.
The rector states that, despite all this data that supports the sense of innovation that UPF opted for in its foundation, we should not sleep. It's time to move towards a new model. More feminine in power, with a visibly plural and more cohesive organization, linked to society, capable of developing students' transversal skills, integrating artificial intelligence, intensifying research and knowledge transfer.
For these objectives, it demands an increase in the budget allocated to universities as established by law (1% of GDP) and a distribution of financing different from the current one.
The rector received La Vanguardia last Wednesday in her office located in Plaza de la Mercè. She answers the questions extensively. In the adjoining room, portraits of her five predecessors hang. She wouldn't want to see her face in the hole left in the wall. "This is a team effort and, therefore, it would be fair if we were all there."
Is the poster that illustrates the new course in which strong women overflowing the frame a statement of intent?
We wanted a poster that had an impact, that explained what we are and what we want to be. The author, Cristina BanBan, is a young person, a woman, an innovator, a transgressor. We are committed to young people and women, who we will encourage to occupy positions of power. And our intention in these four years is innovation. Pompeu is 33 years old, it has been a pioneer in many things, it has had exponential growth and it has shown that you can be different. But it needs a shake-up to stay one step ahead.
And what is your plan?
We have to address many challenges. In teaching, for example. Artificial intelligence, whether we like it or not, is here and we have to work with it. As? For now, we have to know what there is. And we have made a guide for teachers. Additionally, we have advised teachers to make contracts with students regarding their use. In teaching, we want to have a global view of the student. We seek to develop transversal skills. We want students to be creative and critical. That they know how to think, express themselves, write, dialogue... also that they have citizen values, no matter how naive it may seem. In the UPF Passport we are going to include all the non-academic activities and training that are carried out (sports, music, languages, participation in activities and associations) because this gives a more complete profile of the graduate.
After the pandemic, do students have a shorter attention span and more communication difficulties?
The world is changing rapidly. Students are more dynamic than before, they want to do more things. The long master class doesn't work as much. Our model already proposes seminars, practices, debates. But as he told him, the world changes and so do young people and you have to know how to listen to them and adapt. We want them to learn and it is the university that must adapt.
This requires teachers to adapt their way of teaching.
Yes, but you cannot ask the teacher for everything and in an excellent way at the same time. That they be innovative in teaching, competitive in research, transfer to society, have a high impact, disseminate... We ask them to choose and raise quality.
Have the mental health and low academic levels of the pandemic been overcome?
It's only been 3 years since the pandemic. The return to normality should not hide from us that things happen. We must not lower our guard. We have strengthened psychological services and improved information channels. We also give talks and courses on emotional well-being. In addition, teachers are more attentive to students. And regarding the level of knowledge, the teachers help the first-year students a lot. In fact, we have one of the lowest dropout rates in Spain, the fourth lowest.
At Pompeu they have had notorious cases of harassment and abuse of power. How are you going to face it in the future?
This is a priority issue for me. As soon as I arrived, I created a study group to analyze what had happened and how it could be improved. In July I already presented to the government council the 5 axes on which we are going to work with concrete actions in each one. Zero tolerance and a lot of prevention. If we want a cohesive and strong community, within our diversity, we have to firmly and rigorously manage incidents if they occur. But, above all, prevent them from occurring.
You talked about other challenges, such as the intensification of research and transfer to society.
This is a key change we are working hard on. I was vice-rector of transfer. We are going to promote more professorships, industrial doctorates, and establish alliances with social and business agents. The knowledge that we have has to be made visible and has to reach society. In relationships with companies, societies and foundations we see what they need and we can offer lifelong learning courses, which is another topic that we are going to develop and for which we are going to have European funds (predictably, about 700,000 euros). Therefore, yes, knowledge transfer is key. So much so that we are studying evaluating the transfer actions of research personnel as merits. As it already has the teaching and research staff. There was a pilot state program, but it did not continue. The Generalitat has it on the table.
How are you stabilizing and renewing squads?
We come from years of much restriction. And this aspect is going to be important in this mandate. We are going to deploy the Generalitat's shock plan and we will call for 30 reader positions this year. And we will end with the stabilization of the administrative staff. On the other hand, we will consolidate the Tenure-Track program with programs such as ICREA, Serra Hunter or Ramón y Cajal.
Regarding the modernization of management, we have made a great effort in the last year and I would like, in these 4 years, to achieve incentives for this staff. The needs have changed and we need to modernize the house inside and have people with different technical qualifications. That is why we need more financing.
The LOSU indicates that universities should receive the equivalent of 1% of GDP because they return much more to society. Now it is at 0.7%. But a state or regional fund has not yet been established to increase that percentage.
The important thing is that it is written in the law. Think that our sector is the only one that has not recovered from the 2018 crisis, but I believe that there is a will for there to be a state fund. At the same time, in Catalonia, we are debating among the campuses a new model for distributing funding that is not defined only by the number of students but by quality variables. If the students finish the degree in which they have enrolled, if they finish it in the ideal time, if they find a job, if the university is competitive in attracting international funding for research, professorships... etc. And here I would add one more that is very general, which is what social impact the university has with the values of society and with society and the environment in general.
And the UPF is positioned well.
We are good at all that. But, by number of students, we represent 7% of the Catalan university system, when we capture 15% of the research. What we are discussing among universities is the introduction of these variables. And what we all agree on is that they are multi-year plans. Two or five years, and then we will be accountable, with the positive or negative consequences that may arise.
Models of college-type universities and other research universities would be defined.
In Catalonia we have a leading university and research system, but I think it would be a mistake to try to homogenize all universities and have us do the same thing and be seen as the same. I believe that space should be left for particularities, for specificity and that each university has its space to develop. The LOSU did not define it, it is true, but it leaves loopholes to do so.
Are you betting on an increase in private financing?
I was talking about the loopholes in the system. That is, if there is no significant increase or there is no significant increase in the public budget, let us look for loopholes to find outside resources (chairs, agreements, industrial doctorates...)
Should the university position itself politically?
The university is a space for dialogue. Everything has to be able to be discussed, even if no understanding is reached. Regarding taking a position on the war in Ukraine or the Middle East, we can do so through associations such as the ACUP or the CRUE. In other issues such as the amnesty we can analyze its implication from a legal or historical point of view, but I believe that we should not position ourselves as a university on something that is one hundred percent political.
They want to work more with community members who are not formally linked to UPF, such as alumni and retired professors. What are they doing?
For a couple of years we have been working on caring for, valuing and taking advantage of the Pompeu alumni. There is a Pompeu DNA and we want to take advantage of it. They have the UPF in their hearts and we see that they want to be in contact and help. To do? As I said, I like to take actions. Don't wait too long. We have created international charters. This means grouping or putting in contact students who are in different international cities and giving them a small budget so that they can do what they tell us. We have five groups. They are networks that work very well.
And another program is mentoring students just when they are in their last year or in the first year after graduating. They may need support if they are not clear about what they want to do. At the moment we have more mentors than students!
And the talent of retired teachers?
We have a program to harness extraordinary talent beyond active working life. They are the founders of the UPF, both teachers and researchers as well as administration and service personnel. Your background and knowledge are very important to us. For those who voluntarily want, we have many forms of collaboration.
