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The 11th Felipe Segovia Symposium, held at Camilo José Cela University (UCJC), hosted a roundtable discussion in which Jaime Olmedo, Rector of UCJC, and Iván Martínez Pastor, Director General of SEK International Schools, shared their vision for the future of school and university education in a context marked by the emergence of artificial intelligence. The dialogue was moderated by Zacarías Gibert, a student at SEK-El Castillo, and Lucía Fabregat, a UCJC student, highlighting the leading role of students in reflecting on the educational landscape of tomorrow.
Olmedo opened his remarks by noting that this was his second Felipe Segovia Symposium and reflecting on a year “intense on a personal level and very interesting in professional and academic terms,” marked by the consolidation of UCJC’s new structure of faculties and centers and by the celebration of the university’s 25th anniversary. He highlighted the institutional accreditation of several faculties and the progress made in strategic alliances, such as the agreement with Amazon Web Services, which opens opportunities in technology, logistics and audiovisual content, as well as the strong employability results: UCJC ranks as “the third in Spain for graduate employment” according to the BBVA ranking.
The Rector presented UCJC’s new strategic plan, which follows the previous framework ending in 2025 and is built around a central idea: the student. “We have always said that we place the student at the center, and we wanted to express this graphically,” he explained, detailing a renewed academic offering with open-path degrees, dual-learning proposals, new international programmes and a future Department of Humanities designed to infuse all degrees with humanistic education. “None of this would make sense if it did not benefit the student… the student is the reason why we get up every day and come to the university,” he stressed.
For his part, Iván Martínez aligned his remarks with the same strategic vision, reviewing the academic year in SEK Schools and highlighting two milestones: the opening of Turtle Bay International School and the new model being implemented at SEK-Les Alpes. But beyond specific achievements, he placed emphasis on the process of listening and participation that shaped the schools’ strategic plan: “It is a plan that emerges from the community,” he said, recalling visits to all campuses, conversations with teachers, students and families, and the collaborative work of teams reflecting “on what is happening beyond SEK” to anticipate trends and needs.
Martínez outlined several ongoing lines of work: a new governance model to strengthen local leadership in schools; the review of marketing, admissions and family communication models; and, above all, a firm commitment to improving the learning experience and the educator experience. “Students must indeed be at the center, but we also need teachers to be at the center,” he affirmed, stressing that the student experience “depends primarily on the experience of the teacher,” and announcing professional development pathways, learning forums, formative feedback and more transparent compensation policies.
Artificial intelligence emerged as an inevitable backdrop in the conversation about the future—not as an end in itself, but as a tool serving a clear pedagogical vision. Martínez mentioned the “adoption of AI” and the strategic projects already underway in the schools, while Olmedo situated technological transformation within an educational model that combines skills, capabilities and values. Both agreed that changes—whether technological, organisational or methodological—only make sense if they reinforce student support and enhance learning.
Moderators Zacarías Gibert and Lucía Fabregat brought the debate into students’ everyday reality by asking questions any student might raise: “How is all this going to affect us in our day-to-day lives?” Olmedo responded clearly: “Everything is oriented toward the student… we could have devised very different strategic plans, but here we have placed the focus absolutely on the student, and everything we have designed will have to reach each one of you.” When Martínez was invited to summarise the direction of the educational group, he chose a single word: origin. “Looking to the origin does not mean looking back,” he explained, but rather recovering what has brought the institution to where it is today in order to continue advancing, innovating and “doing things better every day.”
The roundtable concluded with a shared idea: the future of education is not something one waits for, but something one builds. As Zacarías summed up, capturing the spirit of the session, “the future is not awaited; it is created little by little.” A future that, as made clear at the 11th Felipe Segovia Symposium, SEK Education Group and Camilo José Cela University aspire to build with strategic vision, deep-rooted founding values and an unwavering focus on their students.