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ORT Rambla, the university building located on Cebollatí Street, opened its doors in 2022 and, since April of this year, has been welcoming students from the School of Graduate and Continuing Educationin Communication and Design.
“We are at a school that naturally grew out of creativity and innovation; you could say it is the first graduate school specializing in soft skills, ”said the dean of the faculty, Eduardo Hipogrosso. “It’s wonderful to see so many different fields of study represented, with students coming from various professions, all of whom are highly qualified.”
Hipogrosso said that everyone, from students to teachers, will go through a process of “personal growth.”
Why pursue a graduate degree?
The school’s academic secretary, Mag. Sabrina Bianchi, replied: “Because our disciplines are already in a different phase and need not only to be updated but also to become more professional.” She referred to the “interplay” between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. “Those coming from the hard sciences need to acquire more creative skills; those of us coming from creative fields, such as communication and design, need to move from PowerPoint to Excel.”
The expiration date of the bill of lading has changed, and we need to incorporate new skills into our university curricula.
Bianchi elaborated on the school’s three mottos: “Accelerate Your Future,” “Unleash Your Talents,” and “Discover Your Best Self.” We can all discover our best selves over the course of 15 or 20 years, he said, and develop a certain level of expertise. “Now, being professionals means taking our disciplines and our profession seriously; it means saying, ‘I’m going to systematize this knowledge, I’m going to exchange ideas with others, and I’m going to come out better prepared for what I need to do in practice.’”
Learn more about the offerings of the Graduate School and professional development Program
Rethinking and Entrepreneurship
Daniel “Tatita” Márquez is a musician, a country brand ambassador for Uruguay, and an entrepreneur. “Technology has always been something that really appealed to me because, when I played guitar, I used pedals, like all guitarists. When I applied that to percussion, I started to see what would happen if I added a pedal—to see how it sounded, how it distorted that sound,” he explained. In 2005, he experimented with loop station pedalboards—one pedal records and the other stops—which allowed him to record while simultaneously playing something else. At that time, he had no competition in Uruguay; things started going well for him, he incorporated all percussion instruments, and was able to compose music using that method.
There came a point when he decided to “ditch all the pedals” and buy a computer with the goal of “learning how to use it to produce music” in order to achieve the sound he was looking for. Then came the big, long tours to the United States, Asia, and Europe. “All that was great, but at one point I thought that when I had to play solo, it would be nice to have some arms—some robots—to accompany me.” And so an idea was born that led toRobotic Drums.
After several years and a long journey, the first robot was built in 2015—“it worked well, but it was very fragile.” In fact, they broke during the first stop of the 2017 world tour. A year later, in China, he was asked if he’d like to manufacture and sell it. “I’d never thought that what I’d designed to play by myself was a product to sell,” he said. He returned to Uruguay and met with Nicolás Jodal from Genexus. “I love it—we’re going to incubate you,” Jodal told him, kicking off another process that lasted over a year. “I’m a musician; being an entrepreneur is a whole different ballgame. But I loved it.” He applied to ANII, they won two grants, and they ended up building this robot, which is the one he brought to ORT Rambla for the 2023 Graduate Welcome Event.
Unlock the potential
Eight or nine years ago, Gabriela Rocha left journalism in search of a new career path: “Unfortunately, the Master’s in Communication and Marketing Management didn’t exist yet; I think that would have been my first choice.” She then began a graduate program focused on business, and almost immediately afterward, she received a call from Ferrere Abogados asking her to take on the challenge of setting up the Marketing and Communications Department.
“For me, it was a dream come true, but I don’t think there was a single day during the first six months when I didn’t want to quit,” the teacher confessed. She had joined a company with 20 years of experience, which had a regional brand and focused heavily on marketing and communications; Rocha believed “that I was going there to do it all,” but in reality, it was already being done. What Ferrere needed was to professionalize the department, to centralize it. “Then it clicked for me, and I said to myself, ‘I have to earn my place; they’ve already given it to me, but I have to earn it.’ I’m sharing this because it might not seem encouraging, but it is, because I’ve often found that people tend to speak lightly about your field. The good news I have for you is that this began to change years ago. Today I can say with certainty that Communication and Marketing are powerful areas within the company, for at least two reasons: reputation and the future.”
Master's Degree in Communication and Marketing Management
Santiago Fagnoni, a professor in the Specialization Diploma in User Experience Design, asked the new students for a favor: to raise Uruguay’s profile. “We, as Uruguayans—known for keeping a low profile—have so much potential that we should look up and aim further, higher. The world is talking about us, and perhaps we’ve forgotten to talk about ourselves. We are the hub of innovation, and we need to take our place in that leading role.”
Certificate of Specialization in User Experience Design
Speaking on behalf of the Master’s Program in Creativity, Innovation, and Communication, Professor Fabián Barros, MA, stated that what is happening in the field of technology is “a truly fascinating moment.” “It’s like a perfect moment because nobody knows anything. We’re all on equal footing, just starting out, trying to understand. And the way to do that is by sharing. We can offer them a wealth of insights from our experience, but we all have something to contribute. We need to learn from one another.”
Master's Degree in Creativity, Innovation, and Communication
