President's introduction
Dear all,
I am pleased to be able to open this academic year 2013/2014, my first as president of the UOC. And I am pleased to be able to do so by introducing an inaugural lecture that, in line with the values we hold here at this University, is both online and networked, that explores new formats, that is broadcast via multiple channels and that invites the participation of others.
Jaume Pagès, CEO of Universia, has been charged with giving or, more to the point, sharing this lecture where, in conversation with Professor Jordi Planella, Director of the UOC’s Psychology and Education Sciences Department, he analyses the challenges and opportunities for universities in an ever-changing and globalized context.
They are challenges and opportunities that, as you will have heard on more than one occasion, require lifelong learning and personalization of learning. Our e-learning model, which was rolled out in 1995 and which, since when, we have constantly evolved, makes this possible and helps our students (and graduates, who now number more than 45,000!) prepare for the needs and challenges of 21st-century society.
These and other questions – university governance, student mobility, the size and diversity of the system – are all analysed in depth by our speaker Jaume Pagès in the videos that make up the lecture in a dialogue which, far from providing definitive responses, opens new dimensions for reflection and enrichment.
I invite you to listen to, read, analyse and share this lecture, and, above all, make your voice heard in all those forums and via all those channels available on the web and social networks.
I wish you all the best for the upcoming academic year!