The University-company relationship and Dual Professional Training, protagonists of the ‘II University Forum of Editorial Unit’
University autonomy, the management of academic institutions, the transfer of knowledge to society, excellent research or the ability to adapt to rapid social changes have been some of the issues for debate that those responsible for the world of universities, companies and the administrations have debated within the framework of the II Generating Wealth University Forum: Financing excellence, in which the main concerns and challenges that grip the educational community in Spain have been put on the table.
At the opening ceremony of this forum, organized by El Mundo in collaboration with the FUE Network, Bankia and Lidl, the deputy director of this newspaper, Rafael Moyano, defended the need for Universities to be one step ahead of society, while Bankia’s Communication Director, Amalia Blanco, has highlighted the commitment that the entity maintains for Dual Professional Training and transversal programs focused on foreign trade and the digitalization of companies. “The educational and political system have to help legitimise the positioning of the company in the educational world,” he defended.
Knowledge Transfer
The generation of knowledge and its transfer to companies and society has been one of the central axes of discussion. The director of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute, Joan Guinovart, defended the ingredients to advance the task of transfer: “Science communicators, patent attorneys, people capable of speaking the double language of the scientist and the businessman and entrepreneurs who want to put money into transforming knowledge into wealth.”
The general director for Spain of Oxford University Innovation, Manuel Fuertes, appealed for his part to the need to “bring innovation from the university to the company in a technical, scientific, entrepreneurial and business tandem“, while the president of the Chamber of Commerce California Spain, Juan Dewar, pointed out the existence of a business culture focused on understanding and serving the customer and the markets as one of the keys to the success of Silicon Valley
New content and skills
IBM‘s Director of Technology and Innovation, Elisa Martín, stressed the importance of the University’s content being adapted to social evolution, for which she opted to “formalise the discussion forums between universities and the companies.”
In this sense, Google‘s director of policies and public affairs, Francisco Ruiz, linked companies’ competitiveness to the connection with universities and warned that digitalisation has transformed almost all economic sectors and the educational model. For his part, the general director of Unidad Editorial – the publishing company of EL MUNDO -, Javier Cabrerizo, defended the need to complete the technical training of university students with new skills such as leadership or change management.
University governance
One of the problems that has sparked the greatest debate has been the management or governance of universities, a model that currently “makes the transfer of results extraordinarily difficult”, as stated by the president of the Academic Commission of the Conference of Social Councils, Antonio Abril, and that “directly affects the competitiveness of universities and therefore society.”
In this direction, the person in charge of Economy, Industry and Citizen Knowledge, Luis Garicano, lamented the “terrible governance, with a lack of evaluation and measurement of results.” For the Socialist Group deputy in the Madrid Assembly and former Minister of Education, Ángel Gabilondo, the university needs modernization, internationalisation, a financing model linked to incentives and “a serious reflection on governance.”
Legislation and autonomy
There was also broad agreement in the rejection of the current legislative system, not only in terms of a Science Law that limits the creation of companies, as the head of Oxford University pointed out, but in the fact that “universities are left with a spider’s web regulation that complicates decision-making,” according to the rector of Pompeu Fabra University, Jaume Casals. “We need a new law that thinks of the University as a great opportunity and favours autonomy,” he added.
The general director of Universities and Research of the Community of Madrid, José Manuel Torralba, stressed the idea that current laws prevent the development of universities. For this reason, he advocated for “changing the tax laws, the patronage law, modifying aspects that have to do with investment in R&D and the budget ceiling.”
In Ángel Gabilondo’s opinion, universities require stability of objectives, financial and legal, “serenity in the face of this legislative activism.” The president of the Crue, Segundo Píriz, defended a State Pact that offers stability and more university autonomy.
Financing and resources
The discussion about the resources received by universities could not be exempt from the debate, either because it was considered that it should not be an excuse to justify the results in the international rankings or for calling it a “cultural and conceptual error” to equate public and cheap universities. , as stated by Antonio Abril, who pointed out that “when there is talent, merit and effort, the money comes.” And Garicano agreed with that: “If the University commits to doing things there will be more money.”
Excellence centres
In order to have an excellence centre, in Torralba’s opinion, four elements are necessary: the best students, teachers, governance and financing. But in Spain there is no concentration of talent, financing is governed by “coffee for all” and governance “is not the most appropriate to put centres to compete.”
After considering that universities train good professionals, he weighed failures in other aspects “such as having the focuses of excellence distributed and that society is not prepared to concentrate or differentiate it.” At this point, the Catalan system was applauded as a model to follow, also by the Madrid Government itself, which is preparing a Higher Education Law that looks towards Catalonia.
Equity and differentiation
High School professor José Antonio Marina considered it a mistake that universities only value research and regretted that “in Spain there is no idea of university, nor are there differences between universities, which are fundamental in other places.” “No university in the world can be excellent in everything. We are going to create a Campus of Excellence to stand out in something, be useful to society and fulfil the quality of teaching with dignity,” he claimed.
Gabilondo opted to make equity compatible with excellence. Equity, which “does not mean coffee for all”, and excellence, which he considered compatible with maintaining a universal system of opportunities.
Professional Training
Professional Training was the subject of a specific debate table in which the dual model and innovation were protagonists. The director of Human Resources at Lidl Spain, Amalia Santallusia, referred to the figure of the tutor within the company as the key to the success of this modality. “Many institutions and entities fight to develop it in Spain”, explained the executive vice president of Government and Institutional Relations of Seat and president of the Training Commission of the Chamber of Spain, Ramón Paredes, who regretted that there is no guidance model in Spain.
Here the Basque model was the great protagonist. The regional deputy councillor Jorge Arévalo highlighted the speed of response offered to companies. The director of Dual FP at Bankia, Mercedes Chacón, conceived Dual FP as “a broad model that understands the relationship between the business world and education” and the director of Teaching-Learning at Florida Universitaria, Pere Soriano, described it as essential to create spaces for coexistence of the company with educational processes.
