EDvolution is the new educational model towards which Pompeu Fabra University is working in order to adapt to the needs of the professionals, companies and social agents of the future. This project is currently in its early stages and involves the participation of all of the departments and faculties of the University. It is expected to be ready to start during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Josep Lluís Martí, UPF vice-rector for Innovation Projects, presented the new model at the first summit on teaching excellence organized by Times Higher Education (THE), which took place from 10 to 12 July 2018 at the University of Glasgow, in the course of which he presented the new Europe Teaching Rankings 2018.

“With EDvolution, this is the first time in its history that UPF has reflected as a university on what its educational model should be like”

“With EDvolution, this is the first time in its history that UPF has reflected as a university on what its educational model should be like. We are not trying to cause a revolution or break with things that are working very well, but we are trying to develop the system by trying to introduce best practices in educational quality to offer the best service we can give as a university”, says Josep Lluís Martí.

“The model is designed for the student to obtain a global vision of the world and deal with it independently, proactively, with a high degree of technological competence and with excellent communicative ability”, says Manel Jiménez, academic director of the Center for Innovation in Learning and Knowledge (CLIK), which together with the Office of the vice-rector for Innovation Projects, are responsible for the design of EDvolution.

Various stages to attain a new model of university

Josep Lluís Martí explains that the project consists of several phases: “In 2018 we have begun an initial stage of sharing, reflecting across all of the University’s departments and faculties. What we find is that there is a very widespread belief that we need a change, we need to transform the institution. We hope to be able to consolidate a unique, modern, up-to-date educational model for the University”. The second stage of the project will begin in the 2018-2019 academic year: “In this new stage, each department and each faculty will perform a more detailed analysis of the type of education their students need”, he explains. Finally, the model would see the light the 2019-2020 academic year.

“There is a very widespread belief that we need a change, we need to transform the institution”

Manel Jiménez points out that currently a change is taking place in the institutions and in society, in which learning permeates all areas, with social pressure to transform how to learn. In this context, the academic director of the CLIK offers a taste of the features of the future university: “It will be a university in which the role of the teacher completely changes: it is not a unidirectional role, but one in which students and teachers share their knowledge; the student is now not just the centre of learning, but is at the heart of knowledge creation; research is integrated into teaching; and industrial and social agents adopt a major role when it comes to offering this knowledge and creating it together”.

Process of participation and reflection on the new model of university

> Video of the EDvolution symposium on YouTube

In the framework of the development of the project, different actions have been implemented to promote reflection by and the collaboration of other actors, both within and without UPF, with special emphasis on finding out the opinions of young people and future students on what the university should be like in the coming years. The EDvolution Symposium, held on 31 May 2018, is notable, at which experts and educators from various educational institutions discussed the new changes in the field of teaching and the compilation of proposals from the various groups of UPF personnel.

In addition, a competition has been organized entitled “EDvolution. Help us to design the university of the future!”, aimed at school children of years 11, 12 and 13. The competition consists of an initial video competition stage, which appeals to young people from different high schools to submit videos with their proposals, and a second phase consisting of a Thinkathon, to be held on 17 November 2018, with the participation of the students who have been selected in the first phase.

> Video of the Thinkathon

EDvolution, present at the summit on teaching excellence organized by THE

Entitled “Teaching in higher education: the evolution of excellence”, Times Higher Education (THE) organized the first summit dedicated exclusively to teaching, which took place from 10 to 12 July 2018 at the University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK), at which Josep Lluís Martí, UPF vice-rector for Innovation Projects  took part.

The conference, which discussed how universities can improve their educational performance, focused on the development of teaching excellence with the impact of technology and new learning models in this area, and how students’ changing demands and needs can be met.

Josep Lluís Martí presented EDvolution at the round table “What does positive disruption look like?”, which took place on 11 July. Chaired by Moira Fischbacher-Smith, vice-rector for Learning and Teaching at the University of Glasgow, it involved those responsible for this field at their respective institutions: Tine Baelmans (KU Leuven); Arshad Ahmad (McMaster University) and Phil Cotton (Rwanda University).

UPF comes 42^nd in Europe and fifth in Spain in the THE Europe Teaching Rankings 2018 

During the summit, the results of the first edition of the THE Europe Teaching Rankings 2018 were presented, a new classification of European universities based on the field of teaching. In this table, headed by the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and the Sorbonne, UPF comes 42^nd in Europe and fifth in Spain, behind the universities of Navarra, Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Madrid.

The ranking, which takes into account the results of the THE European Student Survey, conducted on more than 30,000 university students in ten countries, analyses the quality of higher education through thirteen performance indicators around four basic categories: engagement (the connection between the university and its students), resources (the ability of the institution to teach effectively), the results obtained (the reputation of the studies, the development of skills and graduation rate), and the learning environment (gender balance among students and academic staff).