A little over a week ago, the economist Àngels Fitó (Barcelona, 1970) took charge of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Until now vice-rector for competitiveness and employability, the new rector is going to focus precisely on the training needs that the turbulent labor market will generate in the coming years, in which the disappearance of professions is expected.
“The dream would be for the UOC to be a benchmark for those people who need (or want) to improve professionally and know that we are going to accompany them and help them in decision-making,” he says.
It seems that the UOC has the wind in its favor, there will be a great need for training throughout life and the online option is triumphant.
Yes, we have a very clear context of opportunity. In addition, the discourse of the need for continuous training has already been incorporated into public policies. And, indeed, this is what the UOC has been doing for 27 years. Now, there are also threats. There are more and more private operators, even non-university ones, who see the business and can adapt to the needs with more agility than us.
What does it mean?
We could open the academic itineraries at any time and let anyone design their customized program. People do not follow linear training itineraries. There are people who start with the humanities, move on to technology and then go to the social sciences. We have many people who come from vocational training (35% who do a degree). People come and go when they want. And it is a pity that the academic regulations, the regulation of the ministry and the councils do not allow us more flexibility.
And the new university law, the Losu, does not improve it?
Losu introduces the concept of microcredential for the first time. I think that it makes a bet, perhaps a little timid even in what is lifelong training, but then the regulatory provisions continue to impose many rigidities.
What do you think of the law?
It is a possible law, but it stops halfway. It tries to solve issues such as job insecurity and has interesting commitments such as internationalization, open science or equality management. But it suffers from fundamental aspects, such as the lack of financing, and requires a transition that I believe is unaffordable.
What goals do you have for the UOC?
In addition to offering customizable open itineraries, we are going to improve everything related to accompaniment to students and alumni, of which we have more than 100,000. We will offer everyone tools related to labor mobility.
Labor mobility?
We don't know what the professional opportunities will be in 5 or 10 years, but what we can do today is train them so that when that time comes, they know how to make the right decision. And this means, on the one hand, this flexibility in itineraries and that people can recognize what skills they have and what they lack. We are now developing tools to identify what they are good at and what the market is looking for, in order to make the best possible match with the company.
Do you think that the university should give FP?
Yes, it makes perfect sense that the university is in higher grades. We should have much easier walkways and allow the student to move around. For this, all the financing and support plans for the development of this type of training must have a comprehensive view.
How will AI impact?
The challenge is to fully integrate them into the design of our training programs. We have to make our students experts in the use of these tools because it will make them more productive, because the job market will ask them to incorporate it and it also allows us to focus on the development of more humane skills. And we need them to be experts so that the AIs, which master language, so human, do not have absolute freedom to occupy certain spaces.
What skills will be enhanced?
As human beings we have to be able to learn to integrate everything that happens around us and that can improve our social and economic impact of our activity. The second is everything that has to do with creativity. Creativity is on the rise and is going to increase. And, thirdly, the management of emotions, the management of teams, that this is an activity, I think it is exclusively human.
Is it affecting the evaluation?
We are in a process. Today, no university can guarantee that AI is not being used. Although they are beginning to see tools that allow jobs to be scanned by AI. I believe that the important focus is to integrate the learning processes.
Developing the rural world is an objective of the European Union, which is providing financial funds to prevent depopulation. Is it also an objective of the UOC?
We have been in small towns for 27 years. This is an aspect that we have not made visible sufficiently well, despite the fact that we have worked on it a lot. We always say wherever fiber optics arrives, let the educational opportunity arrive. Approximately 18% of our student body is in towns with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. Between 8 and 9 percent, in fewer than 5,000, and around 1,000 students in towns with less than 1,000 inhabitants. But what is most interesting is that although the UOC is equal in terms of gender, in the rural world, the presence of women reaches 65%. And the smaller the size of the population, the greater the presence of women.
And what kind of training do they choose?
Well, it's also curious. We have more women in areas where there are usually not many women, such as technology.
The dropout rate in virtual universities is high. How are they going to fight it?
Indeed, we exceed 20% of the average for face-to-face courses, although it is similar to some Spanish face-to-face campuses. I think this is a challenge for all universities. We have to make training relevant. The learning experiences have to be challenging and we have to maintain and earn market recognition. If not, the risk is losing the role that universities have as a social elevator.
