"In education, the worst mistake we could make is to resist change"

I think that if a country creates the right structure and framework for quality assurance, it can be useful in all forms of higher education, which of course include e-learning. Universities must have their own quality processes for specific aspects, but there must also be an over-arching national model in place. So, what should we do? We must be capable of designing special quality assurance products for the new and different aspects of higher education. Each country is developing its own criteria, and this is a good thing because 20 years ago no-one was thinking about quality. What they must do is ensure that the systems evolve so that these changes take root. The most basic principle in this process is to monitor the student's process and verify that the learning requirements have been met each day. This is what really matters. Quality agencies must also play a role. There is a crisis in employment, not only in Spain but around the world, even in the United States. Fifty per cent of recent graduates have yet to find found work. A lot of people think that we should move away from degrees that stretch over several years and focus instead on shorter courses that lead to qualifications more closely linked to the job market. Students could go back to university later in life and study something else, which is where e-learning comes in. We are at the point of collapse of these lengthy periods of study, which are not compatible with the lives our students will lead. There is also a conflict with those academics who have spent their entire careers teaching subjects that have no direct link to the labour market. At the end of the day it will be the students who determine the trend. Ultimately, people will tend to choose courses that are useful for their lives, and courses that place them in the increasingly large group of people who cannot find work will obviously lose popularity. I live in Canada, where many young people without degrees have attended universities to complete shorter courses, for example in web design, and have then been able to find employment. I am not against studying subjects like literature, but as things stand it is more important for people to be able to find work, because this is what their lives will depend on. If you have no income it becomes impossible to live. The worst mistake we could make is to resist change. All institutions must change. E-learning is not simply about solving the problem of how knowledge is distributed; universities must offer shorter programmes that focus more specifically on employment prospects and help students to create their own jobs. This is the change we need. Universities serve society through knowledge and should ultimately be asking what type of knowledge our society needs. In civilized societies there will always be a place for highly educated individuals, but for many people the first step must be to acquire skills that have a tangible use in their lives. The private sector is increasingly playing a role in a sector – higher education – where it traditionally had little involvement. Companies are sensitive to market requirements and offer services that reflect this. Governments must ensure that the private sector is regulated in the right way, that qualifications are not presented dishonestly and that the information published about courses is a true reflection of their content. This isn't to say that the same does not occur in the public sector, but everything must be placed in the same framework. For the universities, introducing e-learning will entail profound reflection on everything they do, the qualifications they offer and how they should position themselves in the sector. As I said, it will be the students who determine what is valued in this process, because they will naturally gravitate towards the courses that are more useful for their lives. In this sense, universities are operating in an increasingly competitive world.