In an analysis published in La República, Felipe Jaramillo Vélez argues that universities face chaos in adapting to the digital era, driven by demands for immediacy and specialization. He warns against simplifying curricula that sacrifice humanities for short, attractive careers. He insists that higher education must preserve depth to form integral citizens.
The 21st century has brought a digital revolution that transformed isolated tools into ecosystems defining our reality, according to an opinion piece by Felipe Jaramillo Vélez in La República, published on January 17, 2026. The pandemic accelerated this shift, creating tension between rapid evolution and nostalgia for an analog world.
Unlike other sectors, higher education has responded chaotically, caught between students seeking immediate practical utility and companies demanding specialized technical skills for an unstable market. Jaramillo Vélez notes that enrollment numbers have dropped drastically due to an economic crisis from educational oversupply, declining birth rates, and the globalization of digital teaching.
Many institutions have chosen to simplify programs, eliminating humanities, arts, and aesthetics courses to offer more 'attractive' and short careers. This strategy, the author argues, impoverishes education by sacrificing critical thinking and integral formation for immediate profitability. He criticizes the normalization of brief, self-managed courses without real evaluations, stating that 'without solid bases, discipline, and depth: education simply does not exist'.
This trend is fueled by promises of quick success through artificial intelligence, influencer stardom, or sports, but the author points out that only one in a million succeeds, leaving most without a solid intellectual structure.
Jaramillo Vélez urges universities to resist with dignity, preserving depth against immediacy and attracting the best teachers and students. Academia must be a space for the integral development of the human being, forming citizens capable of sustaining the world, not just consuming it.
