The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound consequences on the social, economic and cultural life at the global level. The educational dimension has also been affected in the schools’ regular functioning, with the temporary closure of educational institutions, as well as the impediment of face-to-face classes. This perspective paper aims to add to the knowledge already produced on this topic, by arguing that these challenging conditions can be a pivotal moment of opportunity for reshaping higher education, with the implementation, development and diffusion, among academics and students, of digital technologies. The paper also discusses the role of leadership in the transformation of organizational culture in higher education. The methodology used to carry out this study is qualitative, and the technique employed to analyze the data collected was content analysis. Research studies, in diverse formats, already published on the COVID-19 topic and its impacts were the elected data sources. The results of this document analysis allow us to conclude that there is the need to improve the digital sustainable development in teaching in higher education, which entails profound challenges that higher education institutions need to face and overcome if they want to be at the forefront of success in the international education market. This is where the authors seek to contribute, by offering insights on the challenges—but also the opportunities—that COVID-19 poses to higher education at a time when it needs to redefine its teaching methods, leadership models, and interaction channels, by going digital towards the improvement of the sustainable development of its teaching.

At a time when the labour market is blocked and simultaneously rapidly changing, with the emergence of new professional and scientific areas, the higher education mission becomes less indisputable and more indeterminate and challenging. This uncertainty was the leitmotiv for this essay, which aims to discuss the importance of attaining transversal competences in higher education. To achieve this goal, a bibliographical research was carried out on the attention that is currently given by higher education institutions to this topic, how they respond to the need for increasingly more transversal training and how they develop a curriculum that meets these requirements. Thus, in methodological terms, a thorough research on the literature addressing the topic of transversal competences was carried out; subsequently, a document search was conducted and a qualitative review and analysis of the documents collected was performed to justify our stance. Our analysis allowed concluding that the context of indeterminacy regarding the future has variations, considering the geographical and political situation, the social context and the activity sector. Furthermore, attitudes, expectations and predispositions are also critical elements for the success of this process of transversal competences’ attainment. This latter factor is central in this process, as there is often a gap between students’ expectations regarding the competences they expect to attain in higher education and the proposals that frame their training at the micro, meso and macrosocial levels and which take the need to attain transversal competences in higher education for granted.

At a time when there is free access to a multitude of information, the knowledge society entails the development and mobilisation of a set of competencies of selection and application of this knowledge in a reasoned and conscious way. It is in this context that higher education should develop its activities, and it is widely recognised that digital literacy encompasses the essential and transversal abilities to any higher level training, that translate into a good preparation for a successful future professionalization. However, sometimes this does not happen; hence, this short communication seeks to reflect on this problem that is central to the training activity in higher education, analysing some implications of this situation, as well as recommendations.

This opinion article intends to address the emergence of what will, potentially, be a central concept in a very near future, that of Society 5.0, and that emerges politically as a (con)sequence of the implementation of the concept of Industry 4.0. By proposing a deepening of the potential of the individual-technology relationship in fostering the improvement of the quality of life of all people through a super-intelligent society, Society 5.0 is an extremely recent concept as a guide for social development and that can have a profound impact on societies at all levels, such as in terms of the quality of life and sustainability. This presentation is based on very recent publications, but it also has a prospective component, which always generates some indeterminacy and uncertainty. Also for this reason, this contribution seeks, above all, to help in this very urgent and necessary discussion. Keywords: society 5.0; industry 4.0; social development; sustainable innovation 2. Industry 4.0 Industry 4.0 is very often regarded as somehow a fourth industrial revolution due to the profound effects it brings

The emergence of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the end of 2019 changed the face of the world. Deep consequences are being felt across the whole world at all levels. This opinion piece aims to provide a picture of the Portuguese educational scenario, specifically the impact of COVID-19 in education and government measures to mitigate it, the hindrances and the challenges ahead.

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has profound consequences on social, economic and cultural life worldwide, and is affecting, throughout the world, the regular functioning of educational institutions at all levels, with their temporary shutdown and the impossibility of face-to-face classes. This study aims to add to the analysis of the implications of this context in the reformulation of education shaped by the digital. To fulfill this goal, the authors carried out a document collection, and also mobilized their experience in the research and teaching of this topic. It is concluded that these unforeseen circumstances may be a key moment of opportunity for reformulating teaching, with the implementation, development and dissemination among teachers and students of digital technologies in shaping a society that is, itself, increasingly digital, notably Society 5.0. To this end, and as main implications, the agents of the educational process, teachers and students, due to their traits and various reasons, will have to prepare for student-centered learning through the intentional and sensible mobilization of digital technologies in a complex process, in which each agent will be, ultimately, a critical content creator with enhanced digital literacy. In the contemporary digital society, the school needs to reinvent itself, which is even more pressing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Aspects such as training, internet access infrastructure, hardware and software, digital literacy, and students and academics' teaching and learning strategies are essential. The school offers, thus, a critical contribution to social cohesion and social equity through digital inclusion in education for sustainable development.

Abstract:At a time when Sociology (either in its introductory or general dimension or in the form of specialised Sociologies) is acknowledged as a scientific discipline with important contributions in training at the higher education level, and not only for the future sociologist, there is a need to (re)think the problem of teaching Sociology in this context. This article seeks to contribute to this discussion on the teaching of Sociology in higher education, being a grounded reflection that is based on the authors' teaching experience in the Portuguese context. Sociology has specificities, which we put forward through four framing principles, namely the need to permanently mobilise sociological imagination, be multi-paradigmatic, the need to be receptive to a heuristic interdisciplinarity, and, finally, foster reflexivity at several levels. These principles should, from our standpoint, shape the teaching of Sociology, both delimiting what should be taught and fostering the way to teach while abiding by these principles. As a conclusion, this problem of teaching Sociology needs an in-depth investigation, in the search for a growing pedagogical quality in a context of increasing opportunities to reform the type of teaching provided in higher education, which is a permanent challenge.

Academic conferences have always been privileged spaces and moments for the dissemination of new scientific knowledge, as well as for social interaction and for the establishment and development of social networks among scientists. However, the virtual dimension of conferences, in which individuals are not physically present in the same place, begins to emerge as an increasingly used possibility, which implies a different framing of these scientific events. This paper seeks to comparatively analyse several models of academic conferences, putting forth their advantages, limitations and potentials. Furthermore, it also seeks to reasonably envision the importance and challenges to be faced in the near future. The analysis allows concluding that virtual conferences tend to take on an increasingly central role in this type of scientific dissemination, but without totally relegating the conference mode with face-to-face interaction. Moreover, there may be conferences that emerge as a hybrid between these two types of conferences, in an attempt to provide their main benefits to the various participants. However, the insufficient literature on this topic calls for the need to develop and deepen studies in this area that allow understanding this academic and social, but also economic phenomenon, in its broader implications.