Camilo José Cela University has launched a cross-disciplinary programme to help its students identify new professional opportunities and understand how to apply the knowledge gained through their degree programmes across different sectors. The initiative combines conversations with specialists and journalists, visits and practical experiences to connect university education with changes in the labour market.
Employability is a cross-cutting focus of this educational proposal. According to data from the BBVA Foundation and IVIE cited by the University, UCJC achieves a Social Security affiliation rate of 85% among its degree graduates habitually resident in Spain four years after graduation.
Building on this track record, the University continues to expand the experiences that help students shape their professional future. The programme is integrated into La Colmena and linked to UCJC’s Transversal Competences Framework, particularly critical and creative thinking, lifelong learning and ethical commitment. Its aim is for students to recognise where they can add value through their education and what they need to continue learning in order to face new challenges.
Working in the space sector: opportunities beyond engineering
The first session, entitled Space also needs your talent: do you have to be an astronaut to work in the new space race?, showed how the space industry connects with disciplines such as law, psychology, architecture, food, communication and international relations. For students from different degree programmes, the session offered an opportunity to explore career possibilities they may not previously have associated with their studies.
The Rector of UCJC, Jaime Olmedo, opened the event by inviting students to reflect on the world in which they will have to live, work and make decisions. “We have a responsibility to reflect on these changes, but also to ensure that they represent a beneficial opportunity for society as a whole. The new model must make use of technology, but it must be at the service of the person,” he said.
The conversation featured Ana Jalón, Chief Technology Officer at Thales Alenia Space in Spain; Noemí Gómez, Head of Science at Agencia EFE; Paco Herranz, journalist at infoespacial.com; and Fernando Jáuregui, journalist, promoter and director of the course. Students from different degree programmes took part with their questions.
Jáuregui highlighted the importance of helping young people anticipate the transformations they will encounter throughout their professional lives, in a context of technological, economic and political change.
During her intervention, Ana Jalón showed the diversity of knowledge that comes together in the space industry. She also addressed the challenges of future missions and possible settlements on other planets, from energy, transport and communications to food, health and habitability.
“The greatest challenge may not lie in technology, but in the human being’s ability to face a journey to Mars, remain there and return. Psychology applied to these missions also opens up an enormous professional field,” she explained.
From the perspective of science journalism, Noemí Gómez highlighted the value of understanding the variety of profiles involved in space projects in order to broaden students’ view of their professional possibilities.
Connecting university knowledge with real-world challenges
The students’ questions made it possible to explore in greater depth the capabilities of Spain’s space industry, human presence on the Moon and Mars, the sustainability of missions, space debris and the legal, ethical and geopolitical challenges of space exploration.
These issues make it possible to connect education across different degree programmes with problems that require complementary perspectives. For students, the session offered an opportunity to recognise the contribution of their discipline and explore what other knowledge and skills they may need to develop their professional path.
The upcoming sessions will continue to bring students closer to areas of social and economic transformation. Through this programme, UCJC reinforces the connection between its educational model and students’ professional preparation: understanding the environment, identifying opportunities and placing knowledge at the service of people and society.