The rector of the Universidad Fernando Pessoa Canarias (UFP-C), Antonio Rodríguez, has defended the university's crucial role as a guide for critical thinking in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). During an interview, Rodríguez stressed that educational institutions' primary challenge is to meet students' needs and earn their trust as mentors in an environment of information overload.
Rodríguez cautioned against the risk of individuals becoming "mere spectators" of AI-generated information without applying critical filters. He believes that relying on these tools without reasoned judgment can have negative consequences both professionally and personally.
“"It makes us worse professionals and also makes us much more polarized and less diverse individuals"
The rector feels that settling for technology's answers "makes us worse professionals and also makes us much more polarized and less diverse individuals." He explained that AI "constantly feeds our discourse, and does not open our minds," making the intervention of a guide essential to foster a broader and more critical perspective.
Facing these challenges, the Universidad Fernando Pessoa Canarias proposes an educational model built "around the student," distinguished by its "way of looking at people." This approach emphasizes early practical experience, interdisciplinarity, and a "strong connection with the Canarian environment," aiming to train professionals capable of integrating into the archipelago's productive fabric from day one.
Early internships, according to Rodríguez, are a fundamental pillar because they "accelerate students' professional and academic maturity." By working with "real cases," students "begin to make decisions, understand how the sector works, and develop skills not acquired in a typical classroom."
“"Artificial intelligence is a very good tool, but it remains just that, a tool"
Despite being "very avant-garde," the university also looks to "traditional university" practices to build networks and learn to coexist. Rodríguez insisted on the importance of the "human factor" and recalled that "artificial intelligence is a very good tool, but it remains just that, a tool." Therefore, he stated it cannot be "so decisive" or "dictate our way of acting, thinking, and our future" so much.
This model translates into tangible results, as the UFP-C was the "second leading university in Spain for employability" last year in studies related to the completed degree, according to the rector. The key, he detailed, is a combination of "early practice, interdisciplinary work, transversal skills, and real projects with institutions and companies."
The Health Sciences area is the university's "hallmark," with Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Psychology being the most in-demand degrees. For the upcoming academic year, the offering will expand with the new Pharmacy degree, a "strategic" qualification that responds to a "real need in the archipelago," as it could previously only be studied in Tenerife.
Finally, Antonio Rodríguez highlighted the university's commitment to research, whose productivity has increased "exponentially" in recent years. The institution promotes "open science," allowing free access to generated knowledge, as they understand that a university is not a "mere academy" but a "transmitter of knowledge" with a significant social function.
