Why do some students choose a degree that, a priori, lacks opportunities?

BarcelonaThe question haunts us all from a young age: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The first few times it is asked, the answers usually come in the form of police officer, firefighter, veterinarian, soccer player, or the recently added profession. influencer. While children are young, adults' reaction to these ideas is usually a mixture of tenderness and grace, but as time goes by, all this leads to the big question: "Will you ever find a job if you study this?" And here the humanities often come out on top.

"For the past few years, we've been completely discredited by the humanities and everything considered cultural, intellectual, or any element that involves effort and mastery of language. It seems like it's an elitist sector, when before they were basic elements for all citizens," warns the vice-dean of humanities at the University. "Here we must add the fact that we are increasingly in a framework of maximum questioning of studies in terms of job profitability and, probably, that we haven't been able to explain well how, paradoxically, companies now demand many qualities that are acquired in humanities degrees," insists the coordinator of the UPF humanities degree.

The picture is similar for degrees like translation, where a lack of familiarity with the type of work and the belief that, with new technologies, these professions may be outdated creates prejudices when it comes to choosing. "The idea of the translator working alone in their pajamas from home still prevails, and that is becoming less common. We now find that more than 90% of our students are working in jobs related to what they studied six months after graduating. There are many opportunities to work in different environments, in groups, and in companies," claims UPF dean Carmen Bach.

In both the humanities and translation fields, efforts have been underway for some time to overcome these prejudices regarding the career prospects of these studies, but it's true that among the students who have attended the open days organized by UPF, one of the factors that weighs most heavily is "passion" for what they enjoy. "I'm interested in studying humanities because it combines history, art history, and geography, and they're all subjects I like. I like the idea of being able to combine everything and not just choose one," explains Maria, who has yet to decide which degree she wants to pursue. She admits that the questioning about career prospects "is recurrent," but that when she's torn between archaeology and criminology, she faces the same pressure in every case.

Anna, on the other hand, is much more radical: "I'm very curious, so I'm interested because this degree will give me a solid cultural foundation." So is Andrés, who came to the open days accompanied by his father. "I like culture and history. I'm looking for a degree that will give me a future, but I want to do something I enjoy." However, his case is somewhat exceptional. "I want to pursue a degree because I need it to be a squad leader, so I at least want to study something that interests me." Furthermore, he has the unconditional support of his father: "The most important thing is to get ahead, and if you do something you don't like, you won't get ahead. I studied economics when I didn't like it, and I ended up finishing my degree at 50," he insists, sitting next to his son.

But are there jobs?

Among the dozens of young people who have come to inquire about UPF's humanities and translation degrees, there are also many who are clear that what they want to be is secondary school teachers. "There are many job offers in computational linguistics that ask for professionals to train artificial intelligence tools," Bach explains.

He also explains that there are former students working on a Siri project in Catalan and that there are many companies related to new technologies that require translation profiles. "People from Barcelona Supercomp come to us asking how to communicate with these machines, to tell them what is needed in terms of linguistics. For example, AI cannot understand irony or be empathetic or understand a double meaning," Bach insists. Graduates who go on to devise communication and linguistic strategies for large companies or who work in more traditional jobs such as simultaneous translation or promoting sign language in various sectors.

In the case of the humanities degree, Ferrer and Fernández insist that the studies are "so broad" that, when it comes down to it, they serve as a basis for very diverse work. "Archival science. And at the same time, there are opportunities that are quite far from the preconceived idea one might have of someone who studies the humanities, such as being responsible for digital communications for a company or specializing in issues of social economy or international cooperation

connecting knowledge and creative problem-solving. All of these are humanities and show that we are in a time of truly maximum need for these studies," Fernández concludes.