From 2009 to 2015 she was Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and University Services at the University of La Laguna. In May 2019, she was elected rector of the University of La Laguna in the second round with 63.6% of the votes, compared to the 36.4% achieved by her rival Gloria Rojas, replacing Antonio Martinón in the office.(4) She is the second woman in charge of this university. The first was María Luisa Tejedor, professor of Edaphology and Agricultural Chemistry.

In October 2019, Aguilar presented a government plan for the University with 300 measures to be developed in four years.(5) Among the most important problems of the university, she considers the lack of budget and generational change.(4)

During her tenure, the University of La Laguna suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the consequent restrictions on access to classrooms, materials, and other services. In August 2020, the University of La Laguna sent the National Agency for Quality Assessment a detailed plan with different scenarios for the development of teaching activity.(7) In it, it was proposed to maintain maximum attendance as long as possible, taking into account the hygienic-sanitary measures, and the mechanisms to continue teaching in the event of a new lockdown that would prevent access to the classrooms. Various institutional support plans (7) were also launched. Among them was the Digitization and Digital Divide Plan, which was intended to meet the needs of students, teachers, and administration and service personnel. Thus, the institution indicates that 375 laptops, 48 web cameras and 390 Internet connections were lent during the state of alarm at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year;(9) and that 300 computers would be lent during the 2020-2021 academic year. (9) The University of La Laguna also announced that 20,000 PCRs would be carried out in a screening program aimed at the entire university community. (10) The tests would be carried out by the Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, which was validated by the Carlos III Health Institute as one of the National centers authorized to test for COVID-19.

On the night of November 9 to 10, 2020, a group of 17 students spent the night in the University rectory building to demand the resignation of the rector. (11) According to the manifesto issued that same night by the Plataforma de Estudiantes de Tenerife, the student body asked "that they take responsibility for the second enrollment and the invasion of university spaces by the Armed Forces." In response, the University of La Laguna indicated that they gave the space to the La Laguna City Council for the holding of a Security and Tourism Congress, but that "the nature of the act was unknown" and that they expected "dogs and maneuvers from the 5:00 p.m." on November 3, in what would be a simulation of the collapse of a building. (11) As a result of this simulation, a group of students called a rally on November 3 that ended with 2 people being arrested.(12) The students present denounced "a violent police charge" (12) and Aguilar condemned the police action (13) and promised to review the protocol for the transfer of spaces, despite the fact that there was really no irregularity in the approval of this event, since it was signed by the ULL Manager himself, Juan Manuel Plasencia Mendoza, as the leaked papers testify. (14,15) Even so, these events led to a concentration outside the rectory of the University of Laguna on Monday, November 9 at 1:00 p.m. and the subsequent occupation of the building for the night.(11)

On November 12, the University of La Laguna denounced that some thirty people had assaulted the rectory building 16 to join those who had spent the night in the building since the night of November 9. The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities condemned the action (17) and the University of La Laguna denounced in a statement that "a good part of those concentrated are not people belonging to the university community" and warned that there would be no solution without going through "the prior eviction of the building, where the mandatory social distancing rules established by the health authorities are also not being complied with and there is therefore an evident risk of contagion". (16) On November 13 they abandoned the lockdown "out of responsibility" due to the measures taken by the Government of the Canary Islands to reduce infections, according to a statement from the Tenerife Student Platform.(18)

Aguilar considers that the concentrations at the University of La Laguna respond to a "smear and discredit campaign" that began in September, that the opposing voices "consider female leadership as a weakness for the ULL" and that this campaign has reached the Parliament of the Canary Islands, where the possibility of more private universities opening their doors on the island has been discussed, which would be a grievance for the public university.(19)