This article shows the need for the University to adjust to the new times by updating the curriculum structure of higher education that should not only respond to market demands, but also provide knowledge to develop the qualification and the humanistic formation of the individual, besides showing how to achieve individual and collective happiness.

1. THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE
Fernando Alcoforado*
The University is a higher education institution made up of various colleges and
conferring various academic degrees. These institutions may include, in addition to
colleges, various departments, orders, research centers and other entities. According to
historians, the oldest University is the Higher School established in China from 2257 BC
until 2208 BC. The origins of the University is closely linked to theological education.
By the year 1200, some Christian catechesis environments became universities in Europe.
The University of Bologna was founded in the late 11th century and is considered by
many to be the "mother of universities". The University of Paris was second to be
founded, then came Oxford. At that time, the University of Paris became the philosophical
and theological center of the world. The clergy controlled higher education. The scholar
was seen as the guardian of wisdom. The modern university arose because bishops needed
a place to provide clerical training. Theology was considered the "Queen of Sciences" at
the University. Between 1250 and 1500, 71 universities were founded in Europe.
The University is an institution that, in its current predominant model, originates in
medieval Europe. Medieval universities, because of their more frequent origins in clerical
schools, were consecrated by papal Bula and also because most teachers were clerics.
They inherited various rights and privileges that were unique to the clergy. Even when a
University was created by royal decree, as was the case of Lisbon by Scientiae Thesaurus
Mirabilis of D. Dinis of 1288, it used to acquire an ecclesiastical forum as it happened in
this University with the label of Pope Nicholas IV De staturegni Portugaliae in 1290. The
medieval universities (1300-1500) were under the papacy and also secular power. Even
so, they were essential to the construction of Western knowledge because there were
scholars in them who were primarily concerned with the development of science.
The birth of modern universities began in 1520, with the Protestant Reformation
movement spreading across northern European countries and the beginning of the
involvement of non-Catholic institutions in universities. This also occurred in the United
States. Also the idea of linking scientific knowledge to technological development is
present with the Higher Normal School and the Polytechnic School, founded in 1794 in
France under government control and with the University of Berlin (now known as
Humboldt University) in 1810, which it preached the need for universities to develop
research and the primacy of academic freedom.
The university's model for research as well as teaching was established between 1800 and
1900 and the successful German model of the University of Berlin spreads across Europe
and reaches the United States. In 1876, the American Johns Hopkins University arises.
The notion of modern university is associated with empirical thinking and the scientific
discoveries that followed the Industrial Revolution that began in the eighteenth century.
Traditionally, university courses were organized by discipline and hierarchical in
pedagogical terms, that is, the student's role would be to receive knowledge through the
teacher, until receiving the diploma. However, the new university model recently put in
place in the European Union based on the Bologna project challenges this traditional
conception. It establishes greater interaction with new technologies, more space for
individual research and field research initiatives, and flexible curricula.

2. The Bologna project seeks to modify the relationship of the knowledge with individuals,
as there is a risk that competences are interpreted only from the perspective of the labor
market, as it occurs today, that due to its volatile and precarious nature, it tends to guide
the production and absorption of knowledge according to market needs. At a time when
European Union political and economic actors are effectively committed to increasing
the competitiveness of European senior management vis-à-vis the United States, China
and Japan, Updating the curriculum structure of higher education should not only respond
to market demands, but also provide knowledge to develop the empowerment and
humanistic formation of the individual. The academy of the future in the European Union
must focus on humanistic and comprehensive training. In it, the student is subject, creates
his formation and knows how to solve problems.
Whereas in the past, a recent graduate of the European University was considered a ready-
made professional and had virtually guaranteed vacancy in the fields of work, today the
scenario is quite different. If there is no constant updating, either by courses at universities
or other educational institutions or even from self-taught processes, there is a risk that the
professional will be outdated and no longer considered appropriate by the labor market.
Market demands and the adaptation of EU universities began slowly in the 1980s and
exploded in the 1990s.
As more people graduate from high school, there is a greater demand for higher education
and, consequently, for continuing education. Society lives in the information age, in
which work that uses physical force to do it is replaced by tasks that require technical and
abstract information, that is, the ability to construct one's own knowledge. In a sense, it
can be said that this has happened, as the Internet has become a powerful tool. The Internet
has accelerated the accumulation and production of knowledge, making the capacity of
professionals expanded and much more demanded. The development of the Internet leads
us to think of a revolution in universities in the future, since classroom education can be
complemented, even replaced by distance learning.
With the help of video conferencing, chat forums, e-mail and other technology
applications, universities are in a position to digitize. Thus, the physical limitations (such
as geographical distance) for access to higher education are reduced. In Brazil, possessing
an outdated education system, its restructuring is required at all levels, from elementary
to higher education. In the case of higher education, Brazil should be inspired by the
Bologna project being carried out in the European Union.
What is the future of higher education? This topic was the subject of debate at the 21st
FNESP, the largest forum for higher education in Latin America held in São Paulo on
September 26 and 27, organized by Semesp, an entity that represents higher education
maintainers in Brazil [SEMESP, MEDIA LAB ESTADÃO. Qual é o futuro das
universidades? (What is the future of higher education?). Available at the website
<https://educacao.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,qual-e-o-futuro-das-
universidades,70003034417>]. The main conclusions of this event are as follows:
• For the first time in history, students may come to the classroom as someone who
knows even more than their teacher does, simply because they have access to the
Internet and can “seek” answers to almost every problem.
• The University should be the space for organizing human knowledge.

3. • There is a need to review how to evaluate students in higher education. Research
shows that decorating school content or studying for exams with the help of tokens
only serves to do this: pass the exam. The traditional tests, where each one has to
solve the questions alone, make no sense because they are disconnected from reality
especially in the working world. In any real-life situation we use technology
(calculators, Internet to search) and, in many instances, work together with
colleagues and partners. That is what the University should also do.
• In the digital age, technologies have an “absolute centrality”: in the economy, in
leisure, in citizenship. The biggest challenge today is building a new ultra-connected
economy without losing sight of the most important thing, which is to make society
better and better.
• One should not think the University without thinking that it is building the destiny of
humanity.
• More than ever, the issue is for the student to acquire the ability to analyze data,
process and think. This is the primary role of universities today and in the near future.
• It is important for the University to consider using new technologies, both in people's
daily lives and in classrooms (artificial intelligence, games, virtual reality,
augmented reality, etc.) because technology intensify innovation. Moreover, since
we have so much technology available, it is best to use it.
• Learning should be based on challenges (and not in contents programmatic), with
flexibility for students to organize their academic path.
• The University should consider that learning is not just about acquiring more and
more content. Learning is to make knowledge explicit through improved
performance - at school, in life, at work.
• Worldwide, many young people enter higher education and do not graduate. How to
motivate an entire University to work for the success of all students? The tool used
in this case is the so-called predictive analysis (using historical data to predict future
outcomes), with information on academic performance as well as engagement, such
as participation in students' extracurricular activities. Every time the system identifies
an increase in the likelihood that a student will face problems that may lead to
dropping out of the course, teachers, counselors, and peers themselves step in to side
with this youngster and keep him stimulated.
• Teachers need to be valued to educate 21st century global citizens.
In addition to doing what is exposed above, the University needs to educate human beings
by pointing out ways that can lead them to the achievement of happiness. For our Greek
ancestors and philosophers, the pursuit of happiness should be the central engine of our
lives. Individual happiness is achieved through self-education. The University must
provide individuals with the education necessary to achieve happiness. Education is the
means by which people would be empowered to make the best choices in life. The
purpose of education should be to make the individual acquire skills, develop critical
thinking, take possession of the scientific and cultural heritage historically built by
mankind, but, above all, should be an instrument for promoting self-happiness and
collective happiness. One of the purposes of education, perhaps the most important, is to
offer people opportunities and means to be happy. The world is waiting for a revolution
in education whose main objective is to provide the conditions for the happiness of human
beings.
The education provided by the University to endow individuals with the achievement of
happiness must be complemented by the use of Positive Psychology on the basis of which
it is possible to do more than solve or alleviate psychological disturbances, that is, to

4. make us happy. Positive Psychology works more on strengths than on human weaknesses,
on the pursuit of happiness than on the study of mental illness. Positive Psychology is the
medium through which people would achieve individual or collective happiness
(community, region, country) which, ultimately, is the main goal that guides people's
choice in life. In short, while Education would act to enable people to make better choices
in life and achieve happiness, Positive Psychology would reinforce the work of Education
in pursuit of happiness. To be happy, the individual must therefore rely on Education and
Positive Psychology. Happiness is an achievement that is made through self-education.
Moreover, she will never be found out. To be happy, the individual must seek self-
knowledge, including with the help of the psychologist (LOPES, Paulo. Positive
Psychology. Matrix Editora, 2017).
* Fernando Alcoforado, 79, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional
Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of
strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the
books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem
Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo
e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As
Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro
para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).