What do today’s students think about the university of the future? What are their hopes and fears when thinking ahead to possible scenarios for higher education in 2050?
This article presents the voices of some of the 741 respondents from around the world who participated in one of 55 focus group consultations conducted in 2020–21 as part of UNESCO’s priority to examine the futures of education.
This is a global initiative linked to the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference 2022 and the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) through a large-scale project on the plural futures of higher education.
That project includes a global consultation with higher education experts, published as Thinking Higher and Beyond: Perspectives on the futures of higher education to 2050, and a public consultation that engaged over 1,200 people in 100 countries during 2021.
Some of the main topics that emerged from the focus groups are discussed below: campus experience will be transformed, a shift from mobility to engagement, co-creation of learning environments, climate change: a ubiquitous concern, higher education and the labour market, impact of artificial intelligence, global processes linked to local communities.
If the findings from these very varied focus group consultations had to be summarised in one word, it would be connectivity. Participants no longer see higher education as created only by institutions, but as connected to students in the co-creation of their learning pathways. Further, they felt global processes should be connected with local communities.
Students want to become better communicators and collaborators to thrive in a technologically interlinked world where learning runs through their entire lives. Individuals will continually upgrade their skills to stay relevant and connected in fluid labour markets.
Participants acknowledge their role within the structures of higher education because they want to become better learners and serve global and local communities to the best of their capacity.
Source information:
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2022012509225275