ver a year ago, I argued that the core purpose of education (developing human capital to benefit society at large) was being hampered by managerial traps. Unlike other global industries, markets, and service sectors, the global higher education sector continues to side step opportunities presented by changing dynamics and contexts. In this time of pandemic, it is more important than ever that university leaders and their management teams react to the changing dynamics around them and recognize the new realities imposed on us by COVID-19. Put quite simply, “We are not in Kansas anymore.”
The depth and pace of change now facing the global higher education sector is real—educational models will have to change dramatically if universities are to survive as we know them. In this “not Kansas” world, one constant priority everywhere should be the closing of skill gaps to prepare graduates for the dramatically changing world of work. The dominant model of university learning is anchored around knowledge with skills development, a “bolt on good” rather than the main anchor of the learning process. The university model needs to drastically rebalance the elements of knowledge, skills, and practice.
Surely, this is not an unimaginable prompt when we are confronted by the following realities:
AI/automation/robotics is an accelerated reality. More than a fifth of the global labor force—800 million workers—might lose their jobs to automation by 2030. Pre-COVID-19 data bearing out this trend is already three years old. The pandemic is only accelerating the potential for robots and AI to reshape the job market by mid-century.
Skills mismatch is the greatest pandemic for our generation. Fifty-four percent of global employers report difficulties filling jobs due to lack of available talent. The unemployment rate for graduates in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries currently stands at 5.65% while the unemployment rate for graduates in EU countries currently stands at 14.5%. The talent mismatch costs the global economy an estimated total of $150 billion while more recent research concludes that “in OECD countries, the skills mismatch affects two out of five employees…[and] the skills mismatch affects 1.3 billion people worldwide and imposes a 6% annual tax on the global economy in the form of lost labor productivity.”
The post-COVID-19 world. Recovery from a post-COVID-19 world requires a fast track reengineering of our educational systems. This reengineering is a direct response to the demands of organizations, many of which are re/upskilling their workforces as the fallout of COVID-19 reshapes society, economies, and corporations. In the UK alone, unemployment rose by 856,500 in the first month of the coronavirus lockdown and 7.5 million workers were furloughed as of May 2020. A McKinsey Global Survey found that in February 2020, 87% of executives were experiencing skill gaps in the workforce or expected them within a few years. This figure and the intensity of this sentiment could only have snowballed since this survey. Recovery responses from higher skilled providers, including universities, must be agile and tailored.
The current century-old model of university learning, which is stuck within the iron triangle of education (access, quality, relevance), has a once in a generation opportunity to play a lead role in the socio-economic recovery of our communities through a reinvigorated skills agenda. A marketized higher education agenda must hold itself accountable to the employability of its graduates, especially in a post-COVID-19 world. As a product of several world-leading universities, both as a student and senior leader, I will always defend the “greater” role educators play in transforming lives; but equally, we have relegated the skills agenda for far too long.
I can only hope that by 2050, the year of my proposed retirement, we do not see #WeAreStillinKansas trending from the Association of Global University Vice Chancellors! The Song Remains the Same. I hope we will eradicate the Kansas illusion along with the virus, both in 2020!
a global affairs media network
Dear Universities, “I’ve A Feeling We Are Not in Kansas Anymore!”
August 1, 2020
In this time of pandemic, it is more important than ever that university leaders and their management teams react to the changing dynamics around them and recognize the new realities imposed on us by COVID-19.
O
ver a year ago, I argued that the core purpose of education (developing human capital to benefit society at large) was being hampered by managerial traps. Unlike other global industries, markets, and service sectors, the global higher education sector continues to side step opportunities presented by changing dynamics and contexts. In this time of pandemic, it is more important than ever that university leaders and their management teams react to the changing dynamics around them and recognize the new realities imposed on us by COVID-19. Put quite simply, “We are not in Kansas anymore.”
The depth and pace of change now facing the global higher education sector is real—educational models will have to change dramatically if universities are to survive as we know them. In this “not Kansas” world, one constant priority everywhere should be the closing of skill gaps to prepare graduates for the dramatically changing world of work. The dominant model of university learning is anchored around knowledge with skills development, a “bolt on good” rather than the main anchor of the learning process. The university model needs to drastically rebalance the elements of knowledge, skills, and practice.
Surely, this is not an unimaginable prompt when we are confronted by the following realities:
AI/automation/robotics is an accelerated reality. More than a fifth of the global labor force—800 million workers—might lose their jobs to automation by 2030. Pre-COVID-19 data bearing out this trend is already three years old. The pandemic is only accelerating the potential for robots and AI to reshape the job market by mid-century.
Skills mismatch is the greatest pandemic for our generation. Fifty-four percent of global employers report difficulties filling jobs due to lack of available talent. The unemployment rate for graduates in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries currently stands at 5.65% while the unemployment rate for graduates in EU countries currently stands at 14.5%. The talent mismatch costs the global economy an estimated total of $150 billion while more recent research concludes that “in OECD countries, the skills mismatch affects two out of five employees…[and] the skills mismatch affects 1.3 billion people worldwide and imposes a 6% annual tax on the global economy in the form of lost labor productivity.”
The post-COVID-19 world. Recovery from a post-COVID-19 world requires a fast track reengineering of our educational systems. This reengineering is a direct response to the demands of organizations, many of which are re/upskilling their workforces as the fallout of COVID-19 reshapes society, economies, and corporations. In the UK alone, unemployment rose by 856,500 in the first month of the coronavirus lockdown and 7.5 million workers were furloughed as of May 2020. A McKinsey Global Survey found that in February 2020, 87% of executives were experiencing skill gaps in the workforce or expected them within a few years. This figure and the intensity of this sentiment could only have snowballed since this survey. Recovery responses from higher skilled providers, including universities, must be agile and tailored.
The current century-old model of university learning, which is stuck within the iron triangle of education (access, quality, relevance), has a once in a generation opportunity to play a lead role in the socio-economic recovery of our communities through a reinvigorated skills agenda. A marketized higher education agenda must hold itself accountable to the employability of its graduates, especially in a post-COVID-19 world. As a product of several world-leading universities, both as a student and senior leader, I will always defend the “greater” role educators play in transforming lives; but equally, we have relegated the skills agenda for far too long.
I can only hope that by 2050, the year of my proposed retirement, we do not see #WeAreStillinKansas trending from the Association of Global University Vice Chancellors! The Song Remains the Same. I hope we will eradicate the Kansas illusion along with the virus, both in 2020!
