The University of Navarra presents the VIII Innova Forum reflecting on the Universitas project bequest

The University held the VIII Foro Innova, a meeting and dialogue workshop in which almost 400 professors and administrative and service staff participated in the University of Navarra Museum to reflect on the future of university teaching . 

Organized by the teaching Planning and Improvement Service, this year's edition served as an assessment of the Universitasproject and the bequest it has had on the different educational plans of the center, framed within the transformative Education axis of the University of Navarra's Strategy 2025.

The president, María Iraburu, was in charge of opening the workshop, in which she pointed out that spaces like this subject encourage work and lead to thinking about different forms of innovation in education: "This is not only about inventing different teaching strategies, but is born out of the need that we teachers have to share our field of knowledge with students," she said. 

The president also highlighted the two fields of action of innovation. On the one hand, the transforming power of work and, on the other, the essence of the professor profession, in which the future must be dreamed. 

This was followed by the session "Redefining academic identities: What is expected of the faculty of Higher Education in the 21st century?", given by Miguel Ángel Zabalza, Full Professor Emeritus of Didactics and School Organization at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

In this, the professor stressed the idea that, in a university institution, the culture of innovation "must be a team culture". For this reason, he differentiated between cooperation, in which Professor Zabalza finds an individualistic trait, and partnership, which emphasizes work that should serve the identity and mission statement of each university. 

Along these lines, Miguel Ángel Zabalza presented different university educational models in which partnership has been made evident in different ways: "Any subject of innovation begins with a 'yes'. Therefore, the best way to expand quality and innovation is to design a repertoire of good practices that serve as a stimulus to develop other initiatives". 

Secundino Fernández, Vice President of teaching, Closed the workshop by reflecting on the Institutionaleducational model . 

In his discussion paper he emphasized the value of the university as a transformative experience: "The mission statement the university is to transmit wisdom so that students become good professionals. That is why choosing higher Education is to bet on knowledge, on skills, on research and, in short, on truth". 

The Vice President stressed that the model of each university must be in line with its mission statement and identity, emphasizing that "theeducational model is the tangible soul of the institution, and that it must make a contribution to achieving change in society". 

Three innovative projects

During the VIII Innova Forum, the IV edition of the Innova Awards for the best innovation projects was held, divided into three categories, in addition to the accredited specialization of the public. 

The project "formative-summativeself-assessment by means of a test with a certainty-based score ", led by Mercedes Iñarrairaegui, professor at the School of Medicine, has won the award for the best disruptive project . 

The award for best collaborative project went to "Family memories. Literature, history, ethnography and identity", directed by Naiara Ardanaz Iñarga, professor at ISSA School of Applied Management, with the participation of teachers from the School of Philosophy and Letters. 

The project "Buscando el temario perfecto en Dirección de Operaciones", directed by Tecnun-Escuela de Ingeniería professor Javier Santos, was the winner in the category of the best transfer project . 

Likewise, the public present chose as their favorite the project "Preadiction II: creating synergies to design a campus that cares", directed by Idoia Pardavila, professor at the School of Nursing, in partnership with professors from the Schools of Medicine, Sciences, Communication, Education and Psychology and the Schools of Architecture. School of Architecture. 

In total, during the last academic year, 68 professor innovation projects were developed at the University.