Future of higher education

If African universities are to meet their mandate to support development on the continent, they must change with the times and restructure, said Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, the vice provost for international affairs and global strategies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States.

The landscape of post-secondary education is changing with the emergence of new credentials that are engaging millions of learners. So-called “alternative credentials” – such as micro-credentials, digital badges and industry-recognised certificates – have expanded their scale considerably, as a consequence of a rising demand for up-skilling and reskilling, as well as a sharp reduction in the unit cost of provision made possible by digitalisation.
Higher education institutions, businesses and other institutions are actively offering alternative credentials that help learners acquire new skills, update their existing skills and signal the competencies they already have. Despite an increasing volume of these new credentials, great uncertainty persists. This working paper aims to assist policy makers across the OECD by defining terminologies, identifying the characteristics of these credentials, looking at providers and learners of these credentials, and examining how employers and governments perceive these credentials.

N apjainkban a felsőoktatásnak számos kihívással kell szembenéznie. Az új tech-nológiák és társadalmi gyakorlatok elterjedése, valamint a gazdasági-társadal-mi környezet átalakulása megkérdőjelezi az adottnak vett válaszainkat az okta-tással és tanulással kapcsolatban. A társadalmi tényezők között említhetjük az oktatás társadalmi és gazdasági szerepé-nek átalakulását, a gazdasági és társadalmi változások gyors és sokszor " hirtelen " jellegét és az ezzel kapcsolatos bizonytalanságot, amely a specializált szakmai tudással szemben az általános képességek felértékelődését vonja maga után. A technológiai tényezők közé so-rolják a hallgatók megváltozott információfeldolgozási és koncentrációs képességét, az infokommunikációs technológiák " állandó " jelenlétét az oktatási terekben, valamint új, virtuális alapú oktatási formák megjelenését. Ezeknek a technológiai és társadalmi kihívásoknak az együttes jelenléte megkérdő-jelezi a felsőoktatási gyakorlat megszokott formáit. Az ezzel kapcsolatos szerepvesztés érzete egy igen változatos és szerteágazó diskurzust indított el a felsőoktatási gyakorlat új formáival kapcsolatban. Az oktatás jövőjével több kutatás és jelentés is foglalkozott a közelmúltban (OECD, 2008, Redecker et al., 2011), de ezek nem reflektáltak külön a kelet-közép európai térség sajátosságaira, nem szűkítették a témát egy-egy részterületre (jelen kutatás csupán a gazdasági képzésre kíván fókuszálni), valamint nem az általunk hasz-nált backcasting módszertani technikára épültek. Az alábbiakban egy – a gazdasági képzés jövőjével foglalkozó – kutatást szeretnénk röviden bemutatni az olvasóknak. Az írás szerkezetét egyfajta szűkülő tematikus struk-túra jellemzi. Az első részében felvázoljuk a kutatás felépítését és a különböző pillérek-hez kötődő célokat. Az írás második része már kifejezetten csak a backcasting műhelyhez kötődő jövőkutatási módszertant tárgyalja. A harmadik részben pedig bemutatjuk és ele-mezzük kutatásunk egyik legizgalmasabb eredményét: a bevont szakemberek által kidol-gozott, a gazdasági felsőoktatással kapcsolatos jövőképet. Az írás befejező részében visz-szatérünk a kutatás eredményeinek fő tanulságaira és a továbblépési lehetőségekre.

""This is an edited volume with Maria Gravani (Open University of Cyprus) in the Springer Lifelong Learning Book Series (Series Editors: Aspin, David N., Chapman, Judith). The volume contains 25 chapters from 35 contributors from all around Europe.
-Analyzes the implementation of the Memorandum for Lifelong Learning from a wide range across the European Union
-Helps understanding and interpreting the different dimensions of lifelong learning
-Brings forward new aspects of lifelong learning that are critically positioned towards European policy trends
The book critically reflects on the context in which lifelong learning policies and practices are organized in Europe with contributions of researchers and policy makers in the field. Through a critical lens the book reinterprets the core content of the messages that are conveyed by the European Commission in the “Memorandum for Lifelong Learning”, the most important policy document in the area, which after a decade from its publication still remains the vehicle for all current developments in lifelong learning in Europe. With references to research findings, proposed actions, and applications to immediate practice that have an added value for Europeans –but which either do not appear to correspond directly to what is stipulated by the European Commission, or are completely ignored as part of the lifelong learning process– the book offers an analytic and systematic outlook of the main challenges in creating the ‘European Area of Lifelong Learning’. In times as decisive as the ones we are going through today (both in social and economic terms), a critical perspective of the practices and policies adopted by the EU Member States is essential. The book follows the same structure as the Memorandum in order to debate and critically approach in separate sections the core issues that Europe faces today in relation to the idea of making a ‘European area of Lifelong Learning’. ​

Contents:

Introduction, Maria Gravani & George K. Zarifis

Part I: Lifelong learning and new basic skills for all.
The Skills - a Chimera of Modern European Adult Education, Katarina Popović | Computer Literacy among the Generations: How can Older Adults Participate in Digital Society? Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha & Claudia Strobel | Basic Skills for Becoming a Citizen, Emilio Lucio-Villegas | ‘New Basic Skills’, Non-Basic Skills, Knowledge Practices and Judgment: Tensions between the Needs of Basic Literacy, of Vocational Education and Training, and of Higher and Professional Learning, Martin Gough.

Part II: Lifelong learning and more investment in human resources.
Incentives and Disincentives to Invest in Human Resources, Marcella Milana | An Inconsistent Policy: Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Policy towards Competitive Advantage, Paula Guimarães & Fátima Antunes | Vocational Education – the Tension between Educational Flexibility and Predictability, Eva Andersson & Gun-Britt Wärvik | Lifelong Learning and Employability, Andreas Fejes | Human Capital and Human Activity in Lifelong Learning,
Despina Tsakiris.

Part III: Lifelong learning, innovative teaching and learning, and rethinking guidance and counselling.
Re-representing Education’s Image and Status: In the ‘Interest’ of Pedagogical Innovation, Stephen O’Brien | Teaching Methods and Professional Teaching in Adult Education: Questioning the Memorandum's Understanding of Professional Teaching, Regina Egetenmeyer & Patrick Bettinger | From “Innovation” to “Quality”: The Topic of Professionalization for adult Learning Staff in Selected European Policy Documents, Simona Sava | Being an Adult Learner and Learning through Life, Larissa Jõgi | Perspectives on Guidance and Counselling as Strategic Tools to Improve Lifelong Learning in Portugal, Maria Paula Paixão, José Tomás da Silva & Albertina L. Oliveira.

Part IV: Lifelong learning and valuing learning.
Contradicting Values in the Policy Discourse on Lifelong Learning, Nils Bernhardsson | Quality in Adult Learning: EU policies and Shifting Paradigms? Bert-Jan Buiskool & Simon Broek | The Adoption of an International Education Policy Agenda at National Level: Conceptual and Governance Issues, Alexandra Ioannidou | Vocational Learning: Shifting Relationships between Education and Working Life, Erik Kats & Jaap van Lakerveld | Evaluating Learning and the Work of a Researcher in the Era of Lifelong Learning, Κristiina Brunila | What About the Learner-Search for Identity and Meaning in Autobiographic Methods, Laura Formenti & Michaela Castiglioni.

Part V: Lifelong learning and bringing learning closer to home.
“Bringing Learning Closer to Home”: Understanding ‘outreach work’ as a mobilization strategy to increase participation in adult learning, Barry Hake | Lifelong Learning and Schools as Community Learning Centres: Key Aspects of a National Curriculum Draft Policy Framework for Malta, Peter Mayo | The Rise and Fall and Rise again of Learning Cities, Lynette Jordan, Norman Longworth & Michael Osborne | Collective Dimensions in Lifelong Education and Learning: Political and Pedagogical Reflections, Françoise F. Laot | Reinstating the invisible: a proposed framework for European Learning Collectives, George K. Zarifis & Maria Gravani.

Index""

This report is the third part of a Horizon Scanning series by the Future of Higher Education Research Centre at Budapest Business School. It addresses the changes and drivers related to the certification of knowledge, or more precisely, the kind of knowledge higher education provides and/or the labour market needs and the various forms in which it can be certified.

Education is the most important catalyst of social evolution. Today higher education is in the early stages of a revolutionary transition that will have immense impact on the future of global society. This article presents an overview of perspectives explored at the World Academy's Forum on Global Higher Education conducted at the University of California at Berkeley on October 2-3, 2013. It examines issues resulting from rapid changes in educational technology and organization that impact on accessibility, affordability, quality, relevance, employability and content of higher education. It envisions establishment of a World University Consortium as a network and umbrella group to facilitate educational partnerships and linkages with other interested stakeholders at the international level, to provide a centralized source of information about latest innovative ideas and developments in this field, and to explore creative solutions to enhance the reach, quality and relevance of higher education globally.