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Before the pandemic, fewer than half of teachers used remote tools; now all teachers and students have tried online education, revealing its strengths and limits and underscoring the need for soft skills. Ángel Cabrera (Georgia Tech) stresses that online learning cannot replace in-person social interaction and human development, so the future is hybrid: blending technology with classroom-based interaction to leverage both. Rapid digitalization exposed gaps between traditional education and employer needs, requiring continuous, lifelong learning and experimentation with new models.
Digitalization has destigmatized online learning and shifted classroom roles toward interaction and teamwork. Flexibility lets students combine study, internships and work globally, blurring lines between university, business and real life—examples include VR medical simulations and digital humanities programs. The old four- or five-year degree is giving way to a “base camp” model: modular credentials, work experience and personalized pathways. Partnerships between universities and industry provide agility, capital and innovation, while academia ensures rigor—seen in Georgia Tech’s large affordable online MSCS and collaborative ventures like edX. Project-based and dual training programs align education with workplace demands. Expanding access is crucial—high US tuition limits talent—so democratized, affordable options are vital. Finally, education must form not only skilled professionals but also critical, civically engaged citizens by integrating humanities with technical training.
Education is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, raising the need for a more flexible, accessible educational model adapted to new challenges.
Before the pandemic crisis, less than half of teachers used remote teaching tools. Today, 100% of teachers and students have experimented with online education formulas, have proven their advantages and disadvantages and demonstrated that soft skills will be necessary in any scenario. A radical change that was carried out in a matter of weeks, without previous metrics or experience. In a very short time everything has changed to never be the same again.
However, in his talk organized by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, Ángel Cabrera, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, wanted to emphasize that online education does not replace the social interaction and human development that occur in the classroom. Therefore, the future of education will be hybrid: a combination of technology and face-to-face learning that allows the benefits of both worlds to be optimized.
The acceleration imposed in almost all areas by digitalisation has also highlighted the gap between traditional training and the demands of companies. We must experiment with new models and assume that learning can no longer be limited to the university years, but be continuous and adaptive throughout the professional career.
Hybrid and personalized education
Digitalization has removed the stigma of online education and changed the role of the classroom, which must now focus especially on interaction and teamwork. In addition, the possibilities have been expanded both temporally and spatially: today students can carry out internships in companies anywhere in the world without having to move. This flexibility allows students to combine training and professional experience simultaneously.
In this way, it is intended to blur the boundaries between university, business and real life, with technology that opens up new learning possibilities: a practical example is medical simulations with virtual reality to train in realistic environments. But change can be harnessed across the board: King’s College London’s Master of Digital Humanities, for example, teaches how to use digital tools to investigate and communicate the past in innovative ways.
What is clear is that the traditional educational model, in which students spend four or five years at a university to earn a degree, is becoming obsolete. Cabrera proposes a more flexible approach: a university understood as a ‘base camp’, where students can enter and exit, combining certifications, work experiences and continuous learning. In this context, the personalization of learning will be key to meet the specific needs of each student.
On the other hand, classic institutions and companies must create synergies in which the private sector provides agility, access to capital and faster innovation capacity, while universities, which by their nature tend to be less efficient and difficult to scale, guarantee quality and academic rigor.
The collaboration between Georgia Tech and the educational platform edX, a non-profit organization created by Harvard and MIT, sold to a private company for 800 million dollars, demonstrates that the integration between academia and business can generate innovative and sustainable programs.
The program Akademia of the Bankinter Innovation Foundation is another clear example of how innovation in education can emerge outside the classic players in the sector and get closer to professional reality. In fact, the aim of the programme is to try to anticipate trends and transform the way students face their future work.
But there are already many examples of how to build an educational proposal in line with the demands of the world of work . InProject-Based Learning (PBL), students work on hands-on projects from day one, in collaboration with companies or solving real-world problems. Similarly, in all dual training programs, students combine university studies with internships in companies, allowing them to graduate with relevant practical experience.
Democratization of education
Another urgency for companies is to expand the available talent base and this involves democratizing access to higher education. In the US, the cost of a degree at private universities can exceed $300,000, a figure comparable to the average price of a home in that country. In Europe things are much better in this regard, but we have to study formulas to attract more people, and today more than ever the economy requires higher education to be productive
With this objective, Georgia Tech has developed a completely online master’s degree in computer science that, after initial skepticism, has become the most successful higher education program in this field in the world, with 11,000 students enrolled. The key, according to Cabrera, has been to take advantage of private technology to go from $37,000 to $7,000 for the full program, but without lowering the quality.
Finally, it is necessary for education to train not only professionals, but also critical citizens who are prepared to participate actively in society. In this regard, Cabrera emphasizes the importance of training in humanities and social sciences , including within the framework of technical careers, to guarantee a comprehensive education: not only technical, but also civic.
A new educational paradigm is being formed, where the university is no longer a single and closed destination to become a dynamic learning space that is in constant dialogue with the world of work. The aim is to find a balance that allows the professionals of tomorrow to not only be competent in their field and open to innovation, but also critical citizens committed to society.
