From the management of Innteligen, a consulting firm specializing in marketing and technology, I share this reflection that stems from a concern shared by many companies: the growing difficulty in finding professional talent truly prepared for the real work. This is neither a superficial complaint nor a gratuitous criticism; it is the result of years of observing how young graduates from university programs in marketing, software development, communication or graphic design arrive at their first jobs without the minimum competencies to make an impact from day one.

I want to make it clear from the beginning: this is not an attack on universities. I have been immersed for more than 15 years in the academic sector, I know its value, its intellectual richness and also its limitations. I have worked alongside institutions from inside and outside, and I have had the privilege of learning from great minds dedicated to research, many of whom have been my mentors and continue to be references. But I must also be honest: times have changed, and universities are not responding with the agility that the environment demands.

Curricula are updated with desperate slowness. Researchers have limited resources and are often required to achieve academic productivity that is disconnected from real impact. Added to this is the pressure for profitability, internal bureaucracy and a technological backwardness that directly affects the quality of training.

I say this with total respect, but also with conviction: in recent years I have learned more from trainers outside the classroom than inside it. From bootcamps, consultancies, collaborative projects, to informal learning spaces where knowledge flows quickly, is constantly updated and responds directly to market needs.

In recent selection processes, for example, more than 70% of the candidates graduated from universities did not handle tools that today are standard in the industry, such as Figma, Git, Notion or automation and analysis platforms. Many have not even faced a real project with concrete deliverables, which generates a huge burden for teams that must invest months in leveling them before they can be productive.

Companies, like Innteligen, know that we must train talent. We have never expected professionals to arrive completely ready, because we understand that development is continuous. But we also know that you can’t build on a weak foundation. If people arrive without solid foundations, without critical thinking, without mastery of basic tools or skills for collaborative work, the learning curve becomes long, costly and directly affects productivity and the quality of results.

That is why I deeply value models such as SENA in Colombia or Vocational Training in Spain, where the focus is on execution, employability and real integration with the productive sector. Young people who do not have a five-year university degree, but who do have technical skills, practical criteria and real experience, make them much more useful from day one than many university graduates.

Universities have an irreplaceable role in the productivity diamond: they are fundamental spaces for research, innovation, spin-off development and frontier knowledge. But this function cannot be isolated from the real world. There must be a connection with business, with technology, with current problems. We need a deep, structural and urgent transformation.

I sincerely hope that this reflection reaches my former colleagues in the academic sector and the rectors of our universities. I know that we have had many of these conversations in corridors, in committees, in forums. But today the environment does not give us more time. It is now that the transformation must take place, because confidence in the ability of universities to train competent professionals is being lost. And once it is lost, it will be difficult to regain it.

I am convinced that if we open real spaces for collaboration between universities and companies, we can design together programs that respond to the market without sacrificing academic depth. Innteligen’s doors are open for this dialogue. And many more will be if we demonstrate a real willingness to change.