"The UOC is a good educational model for similar institutions"

Fabrice Hénard [FH]. On the one hand, it highlighted the importance of establishing synergies between technology, human resources, learning media and student support policies. And on the other, although quality of teaching depends on the quality of the teaching staff, there are other determining factors such as the involvement of university stakeholders ? the president's office, deans, personnel and students ? to excel in this quality. Apart from the teaching staff, all the actors involved have a responsibility to improve the quality of teaching. A lecturer may be highly qualified, but if they go to an institution where the other stakeholders do not help them, their qualifications are no guarantee of success. Finally, it showed up the difficulty institutions have in measuring the relationship between the effort of providing quality teaching and the education results obtained. No one knows exactly how this 'black box works, although some institutions have developed ways of quantitatively assessing the results of their teaching and subsequently discussing the data with their academics to find the meaning. Fernando León García [FLG]. The UOC is a university that has defined very well its objectives and the model it wants to use to achieve them. Compared with many other institutions, because of the way in which it is constituted, it has a very clear model in terms of education, the role of the faculties and the support it offers the students. Therefore, it's a clear case of a good relationship between successful education and successful learning. Quality of education is directly related to quality of learning and good results and this is what we find at the UOC. It is obvious that it still has challenges to face, but it's a good example for similar institutions in terms of how to teach. What we have found here is a very good case study. FLG. The UOC is getting more and more interest from working adults and from young people coming from a traditional educational model. The way to reach both groups does not necessarily have to be the same. Besides this, the UOC is diversifying the languages with which it educates, using Catalan, Spanish and English. This is a challenge for any institution. There is also the continuous need to find constant guidance by the faculties. The key to success of the UOC is the importance that has been given to who is teaching and how they do it. As the UOC grows and teaches in different languages, it must be aware that the faculty's guidance to the teaching staff should continue. The UOC is aiming to be a global institution. Therefore, it has to adapt to what global means and reach more students, not necessarily in Europe, especially in terms of support materials. FH. Generally speaking, we can say that today, and despite the cuts in budgets and resources, quality of education can be improved by increasing the collaboration between academics and by very clearly defining what we teach, how we teach it and what our aim is. What might seem naive questions are crucial and are often forgotten. In this sense, then, academics have to consider what their role in education is, beyond research, because this benefits the institution and its results. Relating it to the one of the points in the first question, it is also important that the university stakeholders create the adequate atmosphere in which academics can carry out their task. FLG. If, for example, a university that has followed a traditional model to date wants to include e-learning among its educational proposals, then the UOC could be a good example, although we can't necessarily say that what's good for the UOC is also good for other institutions. In all, I think the UOC is an example of the way to approach education and learning, of how to define what the profile and orientation of its faculties should be and of how to implement technology. All these aspects could potentially be useful to a conventional university that wants to go in this direction. FLG. First of all, the e-learning model and the hybrid model don't work for everyone, just as the conventional model doesn't work for everyone. Different types of student need different types of teaching. Today, there are many potential students whose needs are not met because there aren't enough hybrid or e-learning alternatives. Therefore, on the one hand, these models will grow around the world, but the increase will depend on the region in the world as there are places that are more used to 'seeing and touching' the teaching staff, to put it like that. In the Unites States and the United Kingdom, these models have grown exponentially, but there they are very used to working virtually and accepting this system of receiving information. There's still a way to go in Europe. In Latin America, by contrast, the model is more traditional. Therefore, I think that e-learning will rise, but it will depend on the context. FH. In the case of the UOC, as it had no previous charges when it was set up, the university has been able to invest and closely follow the quality of its teaching. In this aspect, it has excelled. With regard to universities with more tradition, they have also strived to achieve quality qualifications and seals of approval for their courses. Therefore, what in principle might appear to be a problem has become a point in favour.

FLG. The fact of its being distance education does not have to affect its quality. It affects the method used to reach the student, but if the aim of what is to be taught is clear, it doesn't matter whether the education is on-site or not. Besides this, there are numerous studies that maintain that the distance student is much more motivated than the on-site one and gets better results. FH. The aim of the OECD is to diagnose and highlight the best practices to achieve better policies and, in the final instance, to be able to live better. It is the only organisation that does this in education on a large scale and that has major media coverage. This means that its proposals resonate and carry weight. But the role of the OECD is to set the tone, and not so much to hand out directives, and after a few years see if they've been followed or not.

FLG. In the case of the UOC, the study on which the project was based focused on the quality of education. In other institutions, the focus was on other aspects. The final conclusions of the study will be to the benefit of each institution and it is in this sense that I am convinced that it will help them improve what they do, not because the OECD has imposed anything specific on them. At an institutional level, we'll see specific changes for the better. At a general level, it will take longer.