The Future of Higher Education Institutions
Many experts imagine a world in which universities and companies work together to reorganize education in ways that can change the lives of global citizens and have a positive impact on future generations.
Graduation Day
Workplaces are continuing to change at an ever-increasing pace in line with technological advances that change industry and jobs.
Sustainable renewal, diversification and development of truly new skills are needed so that all sectors and businesses remain relevant and competitive. This requires permanent investment in education, skills upgrading (upskilling), and skills retraining (reskilling).
However, conventional education needs considerable investment, in terms of both finance and time, and sometimes without a clear profit margin. For many prospective students, employability and return on investment are of prime importance. At the same time, many indicators predict that bachelor degrees will become increasingly obsolete in the future.
In the future, students will have an alternative pathway that will lead them directly to better jobs more than a conventional single-track education can.
To respond to these predictions about the future of conventional bachelor degrees, universities must eliminate existing departments, programs and functions to combine them. In the end, they will become more focused on the employability, upgrading, and retraining the workforce. Universities have no choice but to focus on practical training and change their curriculum to meet the demands of employers and the labor market.
Modular education
In the future, students will have an alternative pathway that will lead them directly to better jobs more than a conventional single-track education can. One of these pathways is the corporate apprenticeship, through which students will be trained in the specific skills that employers seek. Recognizing these changes, higher education institutions need to start innovating to find new ways to deconstruct degrees to build education and career paths that are non-linear and modular.
The fastest growing fields today are often found at the intersection of two professions that appear to be unrelated. For example, data science is one of the fastest growing fields, but a data scientist often requires strong knowledge in the industry of the company where they work. This requires a unique set of hybrid skills and can be a challenge to teach in a conventional educational environment. As technology continues to change across a variety of industries, what prospective employees are looking for will also change rapidly.
Also read : Taking The Education Gamble
A robot designed to help medical workers treat coronavirus patients remotely is pictured during a demonstration for the media at the aerospace engineering school of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China March 4, 2020.
The best scenario is that when disruption occurs, the job does not become obsolete but will change naturally to require a lot of skills upgrading. The worst-case scenario is that artificial intelligence (AI) and automation make certain jobs unnecessary and people must be retrained to adapt and become relevant to the new industry.
There is no need to bother with whether it is upskilling or reskilling, as it is believed that so-called micro-credentialing – or modular education – will become a major trend to lead future disruptions in education, which involves getting a mini degree or certification in a particular subject, both broadly and specifically.
Workers will need to improve and retrain continuously through modular education as companies transform. For example, workers will be able to obtain certification in cybersecurity without having to complete a degree. Furthermore, education providers will become increasingly specialized in their program offerings, with a focus on one particular industry or field.
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It is predicted that the university education of the future will be built on modular credentials – sometimes obtained from different institutions – that will become new types of degrees and programs that are suited to students needs wherever they are and regardless of their background.
By using modular learning methods, students will basically be able to design their own education according to the specific skills they need to improve their careers. Companies looking to recruit new graduates will also have clearer insight to the range of skills of prospective workers through their modular education credentials.
According to Business Insider, companies like Apple, Google and Netflix do not require employees to have four-year degrees, and this could soon become commonplace. Companies like Google and Apple recruit employees who have the skills needed to get the job done, with or without a degree. LinkedIn has found that many leading companies today do not require employees to have college degrees.
Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google logos are seen in a combination of photo files processed by Reuters news agency.
After further analysis of the data, LinkedIn has identified certain jobs that are more likely to be filled by non-university graduates, such as electronics technicians, mechanical designers, and marketing representatives.
In the same way that modular credentials provide an independent path to gain the necessary knowledge, modular systems also create a revolutionary way to earn degrees. This is called stackable learning, wherein certificates are acquired through a modular program and the "stacked" to form broader credentials or titles.
This new education model will reduce the learning period while dividing conventional learning packages such as diplomas, bachelor and master degrees into smaller pieces like Lego, each with its own credentials and skills outcomes. Higher education institutions can use massive open online courses (MOOCs) as a tool for offering degrees and modular credentials.
Modular education will make it easier for us to gain skills and real value faster than conventional degrees.
In addition to MOOCs, blended massive open online courses (bMOOCs) have also emerged as a learning strategy that combines the use of activities supported by the MOOC platform and video-based content with face-to-face classroom activities. A recent study on teaching and learning showed that online learning often produced the same or better results than conventional classroom learning because of its flexibility, personalized pace, and instant feedback, all of which are based on the latest cognitive science of learning.
Modular education will make it easier for us to gain skills and real value faster than conventional degrees. Working professionals can learn new skills in a shorter period, even while they work. And those looking to earn degrees can do so in a way that they gain skills and credentials during the process rather than only at the end.
Specialists vs generalists
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Another interesting prediction about the future of higher education is the extent to which a specialist will be in demand rather than a generalist. Many companies will prefer specialists over generalists. In sticking to the demands of the job market, being a specialist does not mean that soft skills will become less important. Many job experts believe that soft skills – communication, empathy, attention, creativity, collaboration, and leadership – will help workers differentiate themselves from their peers when applying for a job.
As we welcome a future that is certain to be filled with robots and artificial intelligence (AI), this unique human ability might become more important than ever before. Future workers need to be prepared to work with strong technological components while possessing the necessary soft skills. In other words, soft skills will continue to be important, but most jobs will require a higher level of technological competence compared to the present.
Many experts imagine a world in which universities and companies work together to reorganize education in ways that can change the lives of global citizens and have a positive impact on future generations. Workers, employers and education providers must be agile, flexible, and ready to adapt as technology continues to disrupt industries and change jobs, whether they will continue to exist or not. Someone who is always learning and a company that encourages a learning culture will be those that emerge as champions.
Whatever the case, one thing is certain when predicting the future of higher education and universities, that we will see the increasing development of more alternatives to conventional universities. Therefore, how conventional universities deliver education needs to change radically through skills upgrading, skills retraining, and constant innovation so as to be adaptable to the demands and the lifestyles of the modern workforce.
SAID IRANDOUST, Former rector, University of Borås, Sweden; former president of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand.
