UOC2TheFuture: the UOC leads the student-centred educational revolution

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) holds the UOC2Thefuture conference – an event at which it will present Insígnia, a strategic project that will reinforce its role as a pioneering institution in offering a personalized, flexible educational experience that is fully connected to the needs of the world of work in the coming years.

The UOC is committed to an educational model that empowers each student to make decisions about their learning and their professional future. Each person has a unique learning pathway, and the UOC provides a framework for support, guidance and resources so that each student can design their own pathway in line with their professional objectives and profile. According to an OECD report, 40% of jobs will be transformed by automation in the next decade, underscoring the need for ongoing training. This means that the ability to adapt and lifelong learning are essential for ensuring each individual's employability and personal growth. The UOC, a university that is a pioneer in establishing pathways for lifelong learning, is adapting its educational model and training students for a world in which skills and knowledge have to be continually updated.

"The Insígnia project reaffirms our commitment to education centred on the individual, which recognizes their learning, identifies opportunities and complementarities, fosters self-knowledge and projects the individual's professional identity to the world," said Àngels Fitó, rector of the UOC. "Each student charts their own path: we give them the tools, knowledge, and support to make it a reality," added Teresa Guasch, vice rector for Teaching and Learning.

That is the underlying philosophy behind Insígnia, a project that will be rolled out gradually and is designed to meet a growing need: autonomous lifelong learning, and turning that learning into opportunities adapted to a changing labour market. Insígnia was created in order to support individuals at all stages of their educational and professional journeys; as its implementation progresses, it will offer them a network of technological tools, educational resources and human guidance to give them better self-understanding and enable them to make informed decisions and adjust their academic profile to their professional preferences.

Self-knowledge

One of Insígnia's key areas focuses on understanding the student's starting point: who I am, what I am interested in, what I know how to do and where I want to go. The UOC provides resources including GPS Professional, a tool designed to help students and graduates improve their employability and navigate the labour market. Using this tool, they can identify their skills and knowledge and compare them with those demanded by companies. It has already been used by more than 4,000 users. As well as GPS, the Career and Employment Services also offer the Projecta't programme, in which more than 2,300 orientation sessions have taken place since it was launched in 2023, and the activities schedule, which has arranged 55 sessions with almost 11,000 attendees. In addition, more than 25,000 active users regularly log in to the service's platform to access resources and materials.

This approach enables students to make clearer decisions that are aligned with their personal and professional identity. While the path may not be linear, the UOC provides constant support, reorientation, and recognition of the value of what the student has learned, even during processes of change.

"At the UOC, we offer personal and digital guidance tailored to the individual, which combines an analysis of their personal profile with an understanding of the current labour market. We provide practical and up-to-date information that enables students to make informed decisions about their educational pathway, and we facilitate access to professionals and graduates who enrich this process with their real-life experience," explained Manel Jiménez Morales, vice rector for Alliances, Community and Culture.

Designing the student's learning pathway

Once the student has a clear idea of their interests and abilities, the UOC supports them in designing a learning pathway to suit their objectives. This process is not one-way: the UOC aims to build it with the help of personal tutors and digital resources that provide a fully personalized and flexible educational experience.

"The UOC's aim is to evolve the design of its course catalogue, basing it on pedagogical approaches that help to connect education with the students' real circumstances, interests and professional experience. With processes involving educational guidance, self-diagnosis tools, mentoring, and personal development activities, we will help students identify their competencies, strengths and areas where they can improve, in order to align their professional profiles with the demands of the market," explained Cristina Girona, an expert in support and knowledge transfer at the UOC's eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC).

This vision of learning as a tool for personal and professional transformation is constant throughout the Insígnia ecosystem, which allows students to move between bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, microcredentials and their own pathways.

Demonstrating learning

Insígnia fosters active and reflective learning during students' education. By means of continuous assessment, self-assessment, formative feedback and digital portfolios, the student can see their progress and demonstrate their competencies clearly.

The UOC also recognizes prior learning, whether it is formal, non-formal or informal. It offers students accreditation systems which are internationally valid and a range of digital microcredentials: this currently includes 74 continuous training microcredentials, organized into nine competency groups, on which 956 students have enrolled this semester (compared to 600 the previous semester). This means that the student not only progresses, but can also show what they are able to do and how they have learned it, creating verifiable evidence of their progress.

"In a changing labour market, the UOC guides students so that they can make informed and flexible decisions which are aligned with their personal and professional goals," explained Carme Pagès, head of the Labour Market Research and Analysis Unit.

This approach is backed by employability rates among UOC graduates: 92.2% of bachelor's degree holders and 94.5% of master's degree holders are employed, according to figures from the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency's report on graduate employment outcomes.

The professional profile: projecting identity

The UOC also helps students build their personal brand and create a coherent professional narrative and a competitive profile in the labour market. The digital portfolio, networking, ties with companies, participation in online employment fairs and programmes like Hubbik (the UOC's incubator for entrepreneurial projects) are some of the resources that complete this area.

The university acts as a bridge between learning and real opportunities, enabling each person to position themselves within the professional ecosystem based on their authenticity and using valuable tools.

The Online Employment Fair has been attended by an average of 4,500 people at each event since the first edition. A total of 176 companies offering more than 1,800 vacancies participated in the last event, thereby consolidating the initiative as a direct link between students and the professional world.

"The UOC transforms learning into opportunities, competencies into recognized credentials, and has professionals who support and empower students along this journey," summarizes Elisenda Farràs, Director of the Support and Guidance Area. "We have specialized roles such as tutors and advisors who provide academic, pedagogical, pathway, and career guidance, tailored to each student’s life stage and individual needs," she concludes.