New Skills for Our Future – But Also the Essential Requirements for the Existence and Identity of Universities
29 August 2025
Roberto Di Pietra, Rector, University of Siena
From 10 to 13 June, 2025, the celebratory conference marking the 40th anniversary of the Coimbra Group was held at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. In the precious and erudite city of Bologna (Bologna la Dotta), we discussed important topics concerning the life and future of universities. During the Closed Rectors’ Meeting, we had the opportunity to exchange views on key issues concerning the development prospects of the universities belonging to the Coimbra Group.
We notably focused on the implementation of the EU’s “Union of Skills”, which we should leverage to best fulfill our missions and address the needs of the world around us. In this regard, key themes emerged, such as inclusion, the use of new digital technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), autonomy, and others. Defining the areas of development for the university of the future—understanding which features we must embrace to respond effectively to society and educate the citizens of tomorrow—is certainly both important and necessary.
However, I believe that in this historical phase, certain requirements must be clearly identified and reaffirmed. Universities (both the oldest and the most recent) face a pivotal moment in which the fundamental elements that define what a university is are not always evident to all.
There are boundaries that are dangerously fading and becoming blurred.
There are actors who, without possessing the requisite characteristics, seek to assume the roles that universities have fulfilled for centuries.
There are approaches to teaching and research activities that challenge the very meaning of the existence of universities.
All of this deserves careful reflection and calls for a clear statement from universities—perhaps even before identifying the new skills needed for the future.
We must reaffirm, repeat, and confirm the elements that define the identity- of a university. These are the essential requirements that any institution must possess in order to be called (and to truly be) a university. They are characteristics and activities without which we are not dealing with a genuine university. These foundational elements constitute the prerequisites upon which we can build the university of the future (but they must preexist).
We need to clearly address two fundamental questions:
– What makes a university a university?
– Despite the differences among universities, what is the minimum common denominator they are supposed to have in common?
These foundational elements define the identity of universities. Upon this identity, we can build the skills needed for the future, but without it, we risk seriously endangering our future.
Universities are defined by the implementation of learning processes (and thus teaching) that are grounded in the socialization of individuals within educational paths, on the experiential dimension of learning, and on the creation of a university community within specific locations (cities) where these paths take place, are organized, and are localized.
University education cannot disregard the human exchange intrinsic to teaching activities. This is part of human nature.
Certainly, technology provides tools that enable activities to be conducted remotely, both synchronously and asynchronously. Certainly, digital tools allow forms of interaction that were unimaginable in the past. Certainly, the potential offered by artificial intelligence is still not fully understood.
In human learning processes, these technologies can play a “supportive” role, but not a “substitutive” one. They can enhance socialization—but they cannot and must not replace it. Similar reflections apply to the conduct of research activities, which increasingly require collaborative forms and the construction of internationally extended networks. Research is increasingly less and less an individual endeavour and more a shared effort among groups of people, often spanning different scientific disciplines.
Technology contributes to these interactions, but it certainly cannot and must not replace the process of socialization of ideas, insights, and creations. The teaching and research carried out at universities are the driving force behind their social impact, in terms of innovation, technology transfer, and public engagement. Even here, we must reaffirm the role of universities in their countries, regions, and cities. Technologies can facilitate universities’ connection with society can, but they cannot replace the human bonds and relationships that underlie that connection.
Institutions that do not carry out all these activities, or do not enliven them through human relationships, lack the essential requirements that form the identity of a university. We need to find the time and means to reaffirm, clearly identify and clearly communicate these foundational elements—first and foremost to ourselves, and then externally. It is essential for institutions responsible for higher education, at both national and European (Union) levels, to clarify what a university is and must be. This affirmation may seem obvious, given that universities have existed for hundreds of years—yet today, more than ever, a clear statement on this topic is needed.
I hope that the Coimbra Group itself will reflect on these essential requirements, perhaps by drafting a position paper, or even issuing a formal declaration, possibly during one of its upcoming Annual Conferences.