The profound changes taking place in both the social demand and in the organisation of services involve dual challenge for the university system. A first challenge comes from the change of the roles and functions carried out by the social professions. The traditional functions are complemented by new, affecting capacity for analysis, programming, management and evaluation. To fulfill its role, the University must rethink its training and degrees in basic and specialized ones, both for training. The second challenge involves the university as a key area of scientific research. If the university wants to be the central subject of social activation, it must be able to promote systematic analysis and reflections on three directions: the changes taking place in the socioeconomic system and in the social demand; the new organizational structure of services and social policies, the functions performed by social professions and adequacy of the skills provided in training compared to those demanded by the labour market.
Keywords: Social professions, competences, university role