This presentation introduces various training options for future archival professionals that are not solely based on classroom experience, but rather on the idea that students leave the university setting to apply the competencies, knowledge, and skills they have acquired in real-world organizations. This is achieved in several courses through project-based learning centered on local social actors.
A clear example is the development of Master’s Theses (TFM) that apply the Service-Learning (SL) teaching methodology. This approach integrates content learning, skill development, and values education with community service in a single educational project, with the aim of “providing a service” directly to society to help transform and improve it. In these theses, students are required to frame their research by linking their objectives to the surrounding environment. This enables future archival professionals to collaborate with various stakeholders outside the university, supporting them in achieving their internal goals. At the same time, they contribute to society and the local territory by helping to build more efficient organizations in terms of digital transformation and information governance.
Although this presentation does not describe an experience within a university archive, it does present the kind of experience that students training to work in archival centers can have through the university. For this reason, it is considered equally relevant to the themes of the conference.