You served as Director of Studies from 2018 and have just stepped down from this position. How would you describe this experience? 

Extraordinarily enriching and very challenging at the same time. I had to navigate through the pandemic, the transition between two directors, and, later, I had to cope with the post-COVID world, with all the societal and behavioural changes that have come about. While it is always a challenge to deal with change, I had the good fortune of working with a team at the Direction of studies that helped me steer a straight course and maintain a positive attitude throughout my mandate. Indeed, the cohesion of the team and the professional and personal relationship I have developed with its members over time remains one of the most gratifying aspects of my tenure as Director of studies.

In your view, what have been the most significant developments in teaching during your tenure?

Without any doubt, the use of online teaching and the rise of artificial intelligence. Although online teaching was largely prompted by the emergency triggered by the pandemic, its widespread use has lingered on, and it is now an important component of many a university’s teaching programmes. If online teaching has facilitated access to knowledge, its actual benefits in terms of effectiveness and inclusiveness are yet to be fully assessed. But the “talk of the day” is artificial intelligence, with the fears it has raised and the expectations it has created in terms of pedagogical potential. In the past few years, we have tried not to demonize artificial intelligence at the Institute, but to promote its conscious and responsible use by enacting a specific directive periodically reviewed to consider the developments in the field.

How has the profile of students evolved over the years?

Students’ profiles change alongside the succession of different generations. The demands and pedagogical needs of millennials and Generation X students are not necessarily the same as Generation Z cohorts. But generally, there has been a steady decline of traditional sources of learning (libraries, archives, reading, oral transmission). To invest into forms of learning that require a substantial amount of time is no longer considered attractive. Everything is assumed to be promptly at one’s disposal according to their own needs. Socially more aware and pedagogically more demanding than in the past, students often reflect and reproduce the societal cleavages and political tensions which we are experiencing in our times. This does not make the job of higher education any easier. 

How do you envision the future of teaching over the next ten years?

Not having attended Hogwarts (Harry Potter’s school of magic), I always find it difficult to predict the future. But if I were to take an educated guess, I would say that we will need to develop pedagogical tools that are better suited to respond to the learning needs of contemporary generations, without relinquishing our traditional methods of imparting knowledge. If artificial intelligence tools can be used for performing a number of tasks, such as editing or acting as intellectual sparring partners with the good prompts, in-person teaching and reading books will stay with us for the foreseeable future. How to strike a balance between all these different ways of teaching and learning will be the main challenge in the upcoming years.