According to the rector of the UPB, there is an abundance of paperwork involved in the quality accreditation system.

Last January 30 Diego Marulanda took office as rector of the Pontifical Bolivarian University (UPB)one of the most reputable institutions not only in the city of Medellín, but also in the country.

He was in charge of a university with more than 27,000 students, 3,183 professors, 4 research groups classified before minsciences71 undergraduate, 105 specializations, 27 medical-surgical specializations, 73 master’s degrees, 12 doctorates.

Marulanda’s challenge is enormous, and for this reason, in dialogue with EL TIEMPO, he explained what his main bets will be. He also took the opportunity to analyze the current situation of the sector.

What are the main bets that you will have at the helm of the UPB?

The context gives us an opportunity to concentrate the capacity of the entire institution on three guiding lines, which I see as an opportunity to understand that we can reach a higher level of development as a university. The first line is academic, research and scientific excellence. A university of the maturity of the Pontifical Bolivarian University in its 86 years needs to concentrate that academic excellence that has to do in the first place with daring to produce significant knowledge in the classroom, which demands solid academic communities. I believe that the issue of the quality of the processes and those certifications that we have received, that must be pimped out, it is already given.

Will you bet on expansion?

That is the second line in which we want to direct and concentrate capacity, which we have called internationalization. The great universities of the country, particularly the Pontifical Bolivarian University, We are going to dare to enter other leagues, to establish an international agenda that allows us to recognize what we are, the contribution we are making from the point of view of the curricular model, which is very winning. We dream that many students come too. I think that we have been a little timorous in that. The UPB has the capacity to convene, to attract a number of people that we have not called. Colombia is an important site of interest, our city of Medellín, particularly. You have to capitalize on all of that. We are able to establish our city as an educational cultural center. Today we have more than 250 international agreements, including double degrees. These alliances must be taken to another level.

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And the last line?

And the third guiding line, very much in keeping with the identity of our university, is a call for us to understand sustainability from an integral point of view. Today more than ever we need to understand that the social, from the point of view of sustainability, is the human. I dream of a university that promotes a curriculum of happiness. Within the theme of love for the care of nature, we need to bet on the regenerative. We can still leave a viable planet for the next generations. The university has been working on it for about ten years and we are going to continue. Today we are the first carbon neutral university in Latin America. We are also the first in Latin America and the Caribbean to receive zero waste certification.

How do you see the panorama of online education platforms and that many choose to study there and not at the university?

We see the panorama from the opportunities. For example, the university has already been dabbling in the subject of technical and technological careers, which are not contradictory to the way of doing university. The offer has to be diversified, make it more flexible and venture into certification by competencies. You have to read the context and the situation of young people. Many of them surely do not have the possibility of access to a professional career due to financial, socio-cultural limitations, in short.

Does the system allow universities, normatively, to diversify their fronts in this way?

It’s very easy, mind you, speaking of UPB Tech, technological techniques, these records are made with the secretariats of education. So, what the university does is say that today I have the capacity to train young people in 2D, for example. Request authorization to offer the degree from the certified municipality secretary and they give it to you expeditiously. It is a slightly lighter process than the whole issue of professional careers with the Ministry of Education. That administrative flexibility must be taken advantage of, it is not so costly, so we see many opportunities there.

And what about the flexibility offered by these virtual platforms?

What I was saying goes hand in hand with the subject of the virtual, of the virtual UPB. Five years before the issue of the pandemic happened to us, the university had made a strategic commitment to virtuality. Today we have an offer of undergraduates, online master’s degrees, which attracts our attention because the number of students there has been maintained, something that does not happen in all institutions.

A claim of the sector is to be able to generate the conditions to be able to offer shorter professional programs. How do you see that position?

Reflection is on the table and important exercises have been carried out. Universities have already been carrying out a gradual exercise. Degrees that were 10 semesters today are 8, there are some 7. HWe must continue along this path without undermining quality, because we cannot return to a professional program in a technical or technological one either. You have to take care of what a professional means, but with some curricula that are somehow more flexible in terms of time.

The Ministry of Education has talked about modifying the quality assurance system. How do you see the current system?

That you have a chance of a review. We must first recognize that there is a quality offer in our country. We have very good universities. That calls for higher levels of confidence, because the quality accreditation system is too operative, a lot of paperwork, it has a lot of internal regulations. We invest too much time, human talent, and financial resources to carry out such a long process. We hope that the Ministry will allow a joint conversation to model a much more expeditious accreditation system, especially for those of us who have already achieved and accredited the quality of the programs for many years.

Since we are talking about the Government, how do you see the commitment of 500,000 new places in higher education?

We must recognize that this country has developed from a mixed model, which can never be ignored. The discussion between whether we should bet on a public or private university is not necessary. Of course we have historical debts on the issue of access. In other words, welcome the 500,000 new seats proposed by the Government. But it must also be understood that the public university does not have all the capacity. If we want to guarantee the quality of this new offer, the issue of infrastructure and, above all, the construction of human talent will take time, and for this reason it is essential to involve the private sector.

Is it possible to meet the goal?

The ball is in the court of the Government and the Ministry. If you are clear on how, welcome. But it is also true that the private university must participate in opening its capacity to put it at the service. The Ministry of Education there must also understand that it is the mixed model that has opportunities for improvement, the public and the private, I believe, are not perfect. The great challenge is not only these 500,000 places for higher education. The country has a historical debt because the educational model is divided. The great opportunity we have is to be able to establish an educational system that guarantees to reduce the access gaps, which start from secondary education.

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What do you think of the challenge of providing quality education when there are Artificial Intelligence tools that could supplant the student in their training process?

Quality goes hand in hand with ethics. There is no quality without ethics. And that is why today we are open to understanding what artificial intelligence means in relation to life itself, to the opportunity for training, because there we are going to have to take a position in some way. Technology cannot be used to increase corruption. Quality is not negotiated, cannot be negotiated, nor can it be sold. This educational system must be capable of interlocuting with all these new experiences of artificial intelligence, all these variables of technology, but all ordered precisely to build a good human being.

How to prepare to train professionals when there is the threat that, when you go to work, your position will already be occupied by Artificial Intelligence?

It is a challenge. The topic of employability is in the conversation of the universities. Not because we are directly responsible for guaranteeing the employment of the professional we train, but it does demand a relationship between university, company, State. We must bet on curricula from the company, that dual training, that the employer feels part of the curricular offer and the university curriculum also incorporates that vision of the employer. Universities have to model employability systems, in such a way that the employer feels confident.

EDUCATION WRITING