Talent, science and engagement: the three pillars of the University's Strategy for the period 2025-2030

Rector María Iraburu has advanced today some of the lines that define the University Strategy for the period 2025-2030. A strategy that will combine "continuity and novelty" and which she presented during the official opening of the 2025-26 academic year, in a ceremony that brought together the main authorities, as well as professors and students, in the Aula Magna.

"In its more than 70 years of life, the University has grown and has given rise to different centers and initiatives, and we might think that it is already an accomplished project. But the reality is that everything remains to be done," he pointed out.

The rector defined the three axes of the plan, which is entitled "A university for all: talent, science, commitment". Regarding the first, she stated that at a time of the so-called "talent crisis", the aim of the University is to offer teachers, researchers and especially students, "an environment that helps them to deploy all their potential". In other words, "an educational project that makes them true university students and the competent, committed professionals and generators of peace that our world needs, where so often the language of war seems to triumph". 

Secondly, she spoke of science and knowledge, "a key contribution of the University, not always sufficiently appreciated and lately reviled in some environments and countries". "Betting on research is betting on the future, and is typical of institutions and people with vision," stressed María Iraburu. Knowledge and wisdom, she added, allow us to feel "and act as free citizens, who know where they are and where they are going, who do not give in to fear, passivity or discouragement".

We live in a complex world," she continued, "and we know that there are no single or simple answers to problems. Research allows us to enter into this complexity with confidence, without partisan agendas or preconceived ideas; to make contributions from the rigor of science and with the broadened vision of interdisciplinarity".

Research: advanced therapies, labor, truth, environment...

In the new strategy, the University will focus on several lines of research, including advanced therapies for cancer and other diseases, the theology of work, the role of the family, the value of the caring professions, aging and the presence of truth through rigorous information. Also on issues related to biodiversity and the environment. "In this year marked by floods and fires," he said, "I think of the importance of the research to be carried out at the BIOMA center and the need for scientific contributions without bias or aprioris."

Finally, he highlighted the commitmentin areas in which the University intends to be a reference and to have "a special social impact". There will be four such areas: the irruption of AI in professional environments and specifically in the University, with the aim of integrating it into learning in an ethical, critical and above all meaningful way; the ethics of the professions, an area "that challenges us both for our humanistic dimension and for our link with the business world"; science education and environmental education, through the activity of the Science Museum of the BIOMA center, "whose project aims to improve science education at all educational levels and to foster STEM vocations in boys and girls"; and the communication of research, so that the University has "greater presence and impact in contemporary debates, sometimes full of little meaningful noise" and contributes to "a less polarized and more reflective society".

To implement this strategy over the next five years, the president proposed looking to young people: "We have not left them an easy world, we feel it every day. Let us work for them andwith them to truly build a freer, more humane and less uncertain world.

Civic education, key to face the challenge of polarization

After a Mass in the oratory of the Amigos building, officiated by the Archbishop of Pamplona, Mons. Florencio Roselló, the opening ceremony began with the parade of the academic procession, in which 222 doctors participated. The musical part of the Mass and the parade was performed by the choir of the Bidasoa International Seminary. In the Aula Magna, the Secretary General, Jesús María Ezponda, read a summary of the academic report of the academic year 24-25, and then the professor of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Concepción Naval, gave the inaugural lecture, entitled "Character and citizenship: 10 theses on civic education".

 "In light of the current panorama in the social and political sphere, it is evident the need, among other issues, to promote civic education among young people, earlier, more and better than we have done so far," said Concepción Naval, professor of Theory and History of Education and leader of the research group 'Education, Citizenship and Character' at the University of Navarra, in her speech.

Naval suggested that civic education is not a "new concept" but a classic one, with deep roots in Western philosophical, political and pedagogical thought. However, she pointed out that in recent decades there has been a growing interest in different parts of the world "for an education that involves a concern for the type of person that the student is and can become, not only as a citizen, but also as a person". In this sense, the professor affirmed that there is a close relationship between civic and moral education, which are dependent on each other. 

"My proposal is to bet on social attitudes, such as optimistic altruism, responsibility -both social and political-, respect, loyalty and justice, all of them supported by personal freedom", said Naval and added: "A good citizen knows and feels that he or she is part of society as a whole".

The professor also advocated a review of "digital citizenship", since virtual media have become "central elements for public participation, they are a relevant modulator of social movements and constitute a key channel for social and cultural influence and communication of political ideas".

The event was attended by the first authorities of Navarre, including María Chivite, President of the Government of Navarre; Unai Hualde, President of the Parliament of Navarre; Alicia Echeverría, Government Delegate; Maite Esporrín, 1st Vice-President of the Parliament of Navarre; Ana Ollo, Second Vice-President and Minister of Memory and Coexistence, External Action and Euskera; Juan Luis García, Councilor for University, Innovation and Digital Transformation; Carlos Gimeno, Councilor for Education; Fernando Domínguez, Councilor for Health; Garbiñe Bueno, Deputy Mayor of Pamplona City Council; Jose Julián Huarte, President of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra, Jaime Goyena, Superior Prosecutor of Navarra and the Ombudsman, Patxi Vera.

Also in attendance were the rector of the Public University of Navarra, Ramón Gonzalo; the director of the UNED Pamplona, Teresa Imízcoz; the rector of the University of Deusto, Juan José Etxeberria; the president of the Council of Navarra, Ana Clara Villanueva; the president of the Chamber of Comptos, Ignacio Cabeza del Salvador; and representatives of the political parties of the parliamentary arc and of different cultural and professional fields.