Why the only constant in the future is change

It’s a changing time for the higher education sector. The post-pandemic world has seen technology driving a different type of learning experience for students, with this shift being required to ensure that universities can deliver well-equipped professionals for a changing jobs market.

Alongside this have come other changes. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the government’s Augar review will bring reform of the student loans system and the introduction of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

But despite a switch to online, remote learning during the pandemic, universities have had to show more than just the capability to be digitally adept.

Setting students up to be workplace-ready once they graduate – demands placed on higher education institutions by both employers and students – requires a focus on work-ready skills, lecturers with experience in industry and the use of practical examples and live cases to solve real world problems.

Edtech is driving a different type of learning experience to account for a new and evolving job market. This shift in the approach to learning goes beyond disengaging, one-dimensional Zoom lectures. It’s a fundamental overhaul in how we learn and how universities can help deliver well-equipped professionals for a changing jobs market.

Here are the three imminent changes to expect in higher education.

1. Being more receptive to change

It’s vitally important that higher education institutions remain relevant and able to respond to what’s going on in our world and that they are able to adapt to any future changes that might come along.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, businesses of all shapes and sizes made transformational changes that would usually have taken years, in a matter of months. The early signs are that there is no way back from this need to adapt quickly to change, for even the most traditional of establishments – universities included.

Business leaders have expressed doubt about students acquiring the skills they look for in employees, furthering the importance of having courses that not only engage students and connect them to the real world, but also are relevant in today’s time. To support this, case studies and real world problems must be increasingly incorporated into study, rather than the focus being entirely on theory-led sessions.

Recent studies show that universities should provide learners with the skills and knowledge they need for a very different future. Having modules focussing on the long-term impact of COVID-19 in the business sphere is much more useful to a student’s potential employer than them memorising the theoretical practices of responsible business, for example.

2. Being in tune with the real world

We are experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and most students now have digital skills, even if they are as basic as opening a Word document. As a result, more and more students are expecting their university to adopt new digital technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things in order to move forward with the times.

Studies have shown that even though students feel they learn more through traditional lectures, they actually learn more when taking part in classrooms that employ so-called active-learning strategies, such as Mersive’s Solstice Cloud, that are designed to get students to participate in the learning process. It produces better educational outcomes at virtually all levels.

From virtual law firms and mock disputes to digital simulations that allow students to be the owner of a company for a day, these experiences help the leaders of tomorrow to learn from real life practices.

Universities need to look beyond essays and exams. Assessing students on their digital capability, getting them to kick start their own social media campaign or find a novel solution for a present-day business problem will push students much more than a 10,000-word dissertation.

3. Jobs of the future will define courses

Employers now want universities to move beyond simple bachelor degrees that often focus more on theory than practice as their primary product. More agile, lower priced, digital credentialed ‘packages of learning’ are highly valued by employers.

The top three skills required by employers in 2015 were complex problem solving, coordinating with others and people management. In 2020, complex problem solving remained at the top, but the latter two changed to critical thinking and creativity.

To remain relevant and employable, workers are faced with the need to re-evaluate and update their skillsets and educators face pressure to update the focus of their courses and offerings. Therefore, there is a pressing need for courses to reassess the skills that individuals need to acquire throughout their life.

As educators, we need to start looking towards the future and working backwards.

Universities need to do better to ensure that the leaders of tomorrow can do more than just connect via a Zoom call. Undergraduates need to be well equipped for life beyond graduation, and higher education institutions must ensure they meet this demand.

Dilshad Sheikh is dean of the faculty of business at Arden University, a for-profit university headquartered in Coventry in the United Kingdom. The only female Asian dean of a business school in the UK, she engages with audiences across a variety of sectors in her endeavours to encourage more females, especially from minority ethnic backgrounds, to attain senior leadership roles.