Universities from around the world to discuss technology and higher education at the UOC

University representatives and experts in digital transformation and education from all five continents will meet at the UOC on 27 and 28 March for the first IAU institutional visit. Under the theme “Education and SDG 4: the role of technology in higher education”, the participating institutions will gain first-hand knowledge of the UOC’s unique educational model and of how the University deals with the main challenges of operating online.

This is the first of a series of institutional visits the IAU is making to universities at the forefront of incorporating technology in higher education. The UOC, with its more than twenty years’ experience, has been chosen as the place to kick-start the initiative, which will bring together representatives from universities in countries such as Haiti, Iran, South Africa, Tanzania, the Netherlands, Romania, Vietnam, the Philippines, Belgium, Thailand and Ghana.

Josep A. Planell, president of the UOC, will be in charge of opening the conference with a talk entitled “The UOC: 25 years’ experience in online education”, which will cover the UOC’s beginnings in the early days of the internet and the unique approaches the University has adopted to meet teaching and research needs over the years.

Pastora Martínez Samper, vice president for Globalization and Cooperation, will give a presentation illustrating the University’s contributions to one of its priority areas: the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Her talk, “UOC and SDG 4 or how to contribute to sustainable development through online education” will explore how the incorporation of technology into education contributes to quality education for all.

On the second day of the visit, UOC experts will offer in-depth analyses of various topics, including the accreditation of online education, the contributions chatbots and artificial intelligence make to conversation-based learning, internships in the virtual world and the advantages of virtual mobility. The programme for the second day, which has been designed in a participatory manner according to the needs and interests of the participants, will also include subjects such as student assessment and the need for lifelong learning in a changing world.

The upcoming IAU visit is the result of a network policy focused on developing specific action plans in priority institutional networks. Last May, Daniel Riera, dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications, was appointed as a member of the technology and education group, and the UOC has recently been chosen to spearhead SDG 3 as part of this international network’s work on the 2030 Agenda.

The International Association of Universities (IAU)

Founded in 1950, the IAU is a global association that includes 650 higher education institutions and national and regional associations from around the world. The IAU’s mission is to strengthen higher education throughout the world, providing a global forum for institution and association leaders to discuss and examine issues of common interest and agree on ways to address them.