Universities and the future of work: interview with Andrés Pallaro

Technological acceleration, artificial intelligence and changes in the labor market are redefining the role of higher education. In this interview, Andrés Pallaro analyzes which skills will be key in the coming years and how universities should adapt.

In this interview, we speak with Andrés Pallaro, a leading figure in educational innovation and institutional transformation, about the challenges universities face today and the key role of assessment in this new scenario.

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What will be the most relevant skills in the coming years?

Undoubtedly, the entire range of durable skills, more commonly known as soft skills.

The concept of durable seems more precise to me, because it includes deeply human capacities that require effort and commitment to develop, but that, once acquired, have enormous value in different contexts, industries and professional moments.

Within this universe, critical thinking and the ability to contextualize human judgment to make decisions with AI support seem central to the future.

How should universities translate these skills into concrete training?

Universities are undergoing a full transformation of their pedagogical strategies, connecting the best of their origins—general education, frameworks of thought and the capacity for lifelong learning—with the new demands for concrete and measurable skills.

Each degree program, each training segment and even each subject should have its own set of competencies to develop, which then integrate into an accreditable professional profile.

Pedagogy, combined with good technology and a transformed teaching role, makes this process possible.

What tensions exist between traditional models and the new demands of the labor market?

One of the most relevant tensions has to do with the disciplinary structure with which universities and degree programs have historically been organized.

Today, topics are increasingly connected, forming hybrid and complex realities that demand new approaches.

We are all called to be a little more polymathic to perform in changing and interconnected markets.

This generates tensions that institutions must resolve in the combination of subjects, skills and content they offer in each educational pathway.

What role does assessment play in this new scenario?

We need to demonstrate that we can evaluate more and better what a student learns and is capable of applying throughout their time at university.

Technology is central to this, especially when it evolves with layers of artificial intelligence that allow us to personalize, make flexible and dynamize assessments.

This will be one of the major fields of impact and innovation in the coming years if universities want to remain relevant.

Teachers, pedagogues and AI, properly articulated, will allow us to move toward a new level in skills assessment.

Where should a university that wants to adapt start?

Nothing incremental is sufficient in this change of era.

An institution that wants to adapt successfully must make a fundamental decision: maintain current operations with efficiency and, at the same time, put all of its collective intelligence at the service of designing new operating models and a value proposition aligned with the immediate future.

That future will require multiple changes and deep hybridization with artificial intelligence.

Each university should have a solid strategy for the next three years, built internally, with external support and constant capacity for adaptation.

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Andrés Pallaro's reflections make it clear that the challenge for universities no longer lies solely in incorporating technology, but in redesigning their training models, assessment and value proposition in the face of a rapidly changing scenario.

In this new context, rethinking skills, how to accredit them and the role of artificial intelligence will be key to continuing to train professionals prepared for the future of work.