pixel The Rector's logic | Universidade NOVA de Lisboa

The Rector's logic

Message from the Rector for the December edition of the newsletter Novas da NOVA

"In today's globalised and uncertain world, what are the skills of the future? What are those skills that universities that make a difference should teach their students? The most honest answer I think is: 'nobody knows for sure.

Moreover, universities are not the only players in the field today, from 'corporate academies' to 'big digital giants' (Google academy, for example), there are several candidates to teach content supposedly (very) relevant for the professional success of new and future generations.

In this context, whose complexity will certainly get worse, what is expected from NOVA?

It is expected to make face-to-face teaching its mark of excellence - for the contents and for the unique human and social experience it provides -; to make the digital transformation of the classroom an opportunity to have a less expository face-to-face teaching, because it has sent those contents to 'stand alone' in a digital classroom, and more international, where a great teacher who is in Oxford, for instance, participates, in a synchronous way, in a class taking place in Campolide, Carcavelos or in Caparica; that guides the most active participation of students to the development of team and interdisciplinary projects that 'respond' to the great challenges of today's society; that offers a 'common education' to its students in irreversible and unavoidable areas such as digital skills (in programming and big data, for example), in sustainability (climate, social and global health) and in entrepreneurship (as many of them will have to create their own work); finally, that besides the essential knowledge and "hard skills", proper of the study cycles they are studying, they are stimulated with the capacity of problem solving, creativity and critical thinking, that is, the "soft skills" and the competences that allow them to face the challenges of the future and to better serve society.

Will NOVA do all this? In the "Rector's logic" the answer is certainly "yes". How and when? Do not miss the next developments...".