The year 1999 saw the last of the major university reforms: the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). UPF adapted its education model to the requirements of that reform. It has evolved accordingly in the ensuing years.

Today, however, we are witnessing a new change in institutions and society, whereby learning has seeped into all areas and there is social pressure to transform how we learn. This has prompted universities around the world to review their models to meet these new needs.

Primary and secondary schools are also playing an increasingly important role in these types of transformations. They are the first institutions to receive each new batch of students, who arrive with a very different set of expectations from those of students just ten years ago. Sooner or later, universities will have to undertake these transformations, too, in order to successfully meet those expectations. 

UPF is working to define its own education model to respond to these new knowledge and learning challenges, a model that reflects its singularity as an educational institution and addresses the needs of tomorrow’s professionals, companies and social agents.

UPF is working to define its own education model to respond to these new knowledge and learning challenges, a model that reflects its singularity as an educational institution and addresses the needs of tomorrow’s professionals, companies and social agents.

Hence, the creation of EDvolution, a model designed based on: student flexibility and versatility; cross-disciplinary learning; the integration of collaborative work between society, industry and academia; knowledge creation; and the integration of teaching and research.

It is a transformative model that provides students with a global vision that equips them to tackle the professions of the future autonomously and proactively. A model that produces highly qualified professionals for society, in both the theoretical and practical ambits, professionals with a high level of technological literacy and excellent communication skills. And a model that also calls upon teachers, dramatically changing their role. It is necessary to leave the one-directional nature of knowledge transmission behind, because, today, not only is learning student-centred, knowledge creation is too.