University of the future! A thousand year old industry on the cusp of profound change.

Based on case study of Australia, Ernst & Young’s framework for assessing and designing a model for the future is given. Global mobility, Integration with industry, Digital technologies, Contestability of markets and funding are just some drivers for change!

Totally different, I hope. Distant learning will have its place and the university will be like a quality control entity. Learning will be done at home and people will go to Universities to participate on projects, do researches, etc.

Universities are facing questions about their own future and will be shaped by the pursuit of monetary objectives. Students  want to be able to download that lecture they missed and watch it again online. Huge  growth of bureaucracy in the university system and in many institutions of research should be diminished. 

University of the future! A thousand year old industry on the cusp of profound change.

Based on case study of Australia, Ernst & Young’s framework for assessing and designing a model for the future is given. Global mobility, Integration with industry, Digital technologies, Contestability of markets and funding are just some drivers for change!

There is also possibility to have virtual mobility :)

Dear Amir,

50%  in 10 years, even in the most advanced technological economies (say, for example, U.S., Germany, Japan ??) is quite a pessimistic prognostication of job redundancy (it would, of course, be a much farther out-of-line estimation for lesser developed countries), yet, like the pessimistic prognosticators you cite, I do believe the rate will be accelerating alarmingly (just not THAT rapidly)!

In the case of traditional universities, I see them as inevitably DOOMED. The timing of their collapse (and replacement by alternative forms) is impossible to predict, with accuracy (even in the U.S. where they are, perhaps, under the most socio-economic stress, and can be more easily challenged and supplanted by technology), but I believe that revolution in the universities [system-of-teaching-advanced-knowledge] will come much sooner than most traditional educators will ever believe (and, probably not in my lifetime, for I am an old man, but certainly within the lifetimes of some of the young school-children already living).

Regards,

Bob Skiles

Technology advange very fast, each 18 months double performances of PCs!

In twenty years it will appear tasks that in this moment we can only dream.

Universities have their role, an important one to teach, cooperate, research, promote novelty, also to collaborate between them, to gather knowledge to select good reasons, to promote usefull things, to save the planet.

I remember Aldous Huxley nove, "Brave new world". I think that we can do reasonable thinks, we can be positive.

That's true, some of actually services will disappear, they will appear another... the world will be continously transformation, but the cycle is shorter. We think too fast!

Dear All,

It is difficult to assess the redundancy among university teachers because of the very various conditions and tasks. In the US, a university teacher has to teach – as far as I know – generally 5 (five) hours a week. In Hungary, the compulsory teaching job is about 10-25 hours a week.  It occurred that I had 11 hours a day.  This shows that without accurate and detailed data it is impossible to prepare a reliable forecasting on the universities’ future.

It may not be as quick as the ''experts projected'' but it will gradually come. Universities are increasingly become capitalistic and money- or profit-making centres. This is likely to be more glaring in the future. As such, more jobs will be threatened.

Dear Amir: Something that I learned many years ago with an older “colleague”:

“Always worth studying”

Dear All,

Almost 50 years ago, I met for the first time the university system at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. At that time I was eyes and ears witnessed, as the graduates of the diploma course (in geology) looked pessimistic about the future and lamenting the fact that they will not get a job. Today I know that any fair and hardworking scientist gets a job and each flexible and future-oriented university will consist in the international ranking.

Dear colleagues,

Yes , it should reduce or eliminate the huge growth of bureaucracy in the university system and in many research institutions.

It will be changed to entrepreneurial universities which is a third generation universities aimed at creating jobs

Becoming a change maker university which effectively leverages technology and human connectivity, open systems and access, and peer-to-peer and intergenerational learning will not be easy.

It will require human creativity and collaboration, openness to new models of design, and agile processes and systems. The payoff, however, will be the creation of many future generations of innovators and an education for which it will be easy to justify the price of admission.

A US survey published by Pew Internet last month asked the question: what will higher education look like in 2020? Read through Link.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2013/05/06/5-trends-guiding-future-changemaker-universities/

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2012/aug/24/higher-education-in-2020

Dear Ljubomir Jacić,

Good text! University of Future.

Worth reading ---- “Universities face their biggest challenge in 800 years.”

Dear Amir Causevic,

During this period, informational technology will grow rapidly. Therefore, it will reduce the number of teachers teaching in universities. But the science will develop.

Regards, Shafagat

My colleagues have given good predictions so I'll try to touch upon little bit different areas.When I started my career in my present university in 1984, exam papers were either written by fine-ended empty ball pen or by a typewriter on stencil papers & then the papers go to Thermofax machine. We were given 2 copybooks to write on by hand: one for grades of tests &  the other to record attendance of  students in courses.

All this has changed, to what you know, by using the PCs. Exams are well-written by say winword, grades & attendances are entered through the internet . In the coming years, I expect that these 3 types of work will be done by voice order from the lecturer to a machine which completes the job to its final end.

I expect a good decrease in the number of administrative staff since most of their work can be easily automated. The teaching staff will have the theoretical lectures divided into room lectures & on-line lectures (in some places, this has started). For practicals, work will be done in the campus but a laboratory session's time will be reduced from say 4 hours to 2 hours because new more fast equipment & techniques will be available.

I think that universities will adopt 3 holidays/week since part of the work of lecturers & students will be done from homes. So the universities will become less crowded if certain colleges have holidays on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday while other colleges have them on Sat., Sun., and Monday.

By that time, each university will carry out industrial or business or services or workshops more than what is seen now.

Virtual firms, internationalization, cutting-edge technology seems to be universities' future.

University culture of today is bound to go a sea change in future. The concepts or the tags like central university, state university of a private university may not work. The only universities which lead and infuse the change through "Skill Building" are expected to perform. 

Another change could be in the form like the concept of  "Virtual University" may emerge on the forefront.   

Nice collections of papers regarding this issue: Universities in Transition!

An excellent experience regarding many countries!

"Universities in Transition investigates the evolving interaction between higher education institutions and society. While the university was once described as an “ivory tower,” a new metaphor is emerging as the institution becomes more embedded in society. Universities, governments, and industries are now described as the DNA strands of a “triple helix,” forming the dynamic building blocks of the knowledge economy. When the strands are healthy and interconnected, the helix produces the knowledge, know-how, and technology of prosperous societies. With this recognition comes new pressure on the university – provide specialized training to more students; develop and transfer technologies to industry; and respond to numerous societal needs..."

http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/openebooks/505-2/index.html

  In the future ,             Regards,

I agree with my colleagues.

• The rapid growth of information technology ( digital technology ) .
• The shift towards entrepreneurial universities for job creation ( integration with industry) .
• Reduce the number of teachers who teach in universities.
• The development of science.
• Contestability of markets and financing.

Dear all,

In some responses the word 'bureaucracy' is an issue.

This bureaucracy may seem a hindrance to the development of universities for many.

In reality, this bureaucracy has important functions:

1) The studies quality commission ensures transparency for the students.

2) In this commission, the students can control the use of taxpayers' money.

3) Monstrous projects of authoritarian professors can be prevented.

4) The benefits of the teaching staff are assessed and evaluated by the students.

5) The public may make insight into the university system and prevent mismanagement.

Admittedly, on the one hand very much bureaucracy is required for these purposes, on the other hand precisely these universities are very successful internationally, and are very high up in the ranking. For example,

I've worked 29 years at the Technical University of Munich and also actively participated in various committees bureaucracy. I know what I'm talking about.

Best regards,

Guenter Grundmann

The future of universities: The digital degree

FROM Oxford’s quads to Harvard Yard and many a steel and glass palace of higher education in between, exams are giving way to holidays. As students consider life after graduation, universities are facing questions about their own future. The higher-education model of lecturing, cramming and examination has barely changed for centuries.

Now, three disruptive waves are threatening to upend established ways of teaching and learning.

1. On one front, a funding crisis has created a shortfall that the universities’ brightest brains are struggling to solve. Institutions’ costs are rising, owing to pricey investments in technology, teachers’ salaries and galloping administrative costs.

2. At the same time, a technological revolution is challenging higher education’s business model. An explosion in online learning, much of it free, means that the knowledge once imparted to a lucky few has been released to anyone with a smartphone or laptop.

3. These financial and technological disruptions coincide with a third great change: whereas universities used to educate only a tiny elite, they are now responsible for training and retraining workers throughout their careers.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21605899-staid-higher-education-business-about-experience-welcome-earthquake-digital

Markovic you are absolutely right. People will study because they need it. tehy will take tests to see idpf they have leaned some subjects and if they need to study more, and not as a part of competition.

Dear Vilemar,

The surname is Marković :)

Dear Amir

Thanks. I am using a cell phone. This turn it was my mistake  because v comes right after C and chose the wrong one. As he is so precise in his opinion we should be as precise when we quote his name.

Dear Vilemar,

I agree.

Fab Academy is a distributed educational model providing a unique educational experience towards the forthcoming future. MIT origin! "MIT Fab Lab concept that will encourage innovation in STEM teacher learning at the K–12 level ...; learner focused, it will accelerate learning for different learning styles by focusing on experiential learning. It is the kind of innovation we need for preparing teachers for the twenty-first century and has the potential for providing the kind of support that future teachers need..."

http://fabacademy.org/

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/faq/

I have nearly read most of the contributions of my RG colleagues in this thread & I wrote one before. So far, so good. As you know, any university can be broadly classified into administrative staff & academic staff. The administrative staff includes also those employed in services such as security, cleaning, gardening …etc. It is difficult to see reduction in academic staff since these are involved in teaching large number of courses with each one having a specific load. Add to it, these scholars carry out & supervise research projects.

On the other hand, the administrative staff (who constitute 30-50 % of the employees, in general) have jobs that can be automated. A simple example, in the near past there were several servants to bring hot & soft drinks to the administration offices for the employees & their visitors. The arrival of a single machine that offers these drinks has already cut the number of servants into 2 in some places. By the same token, in some universities there is a policy of not replacing any retired staff in registration department & libraries. By 2025, the universities will hopefully have less but efficient administration staff members. This managing staff can be easily monitored.  

Technological advancement is challenging education’s model. Online learning may become the prominent, and affects traditional learning method  badly.

Judging from the nearest to me, I would say very few permanent academics with a lot of sessionals and students communicating on line for any problems. Student tutors may replace some of the professors.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future depends on what you do today.”

― Mahatma Gandhi