27 February 2017: Future-proofing the next generation of students against automation and responding to changes brought on by the 21st century are among the challenges universities will face in the next 30 years, tertiary education expert Dr Ken Coates will argue in a public lecture at the University of Canberra TONIGHT.
A leading thinker from Canada’s University of Saskatchewan, Dr Coates is predicting major changes to the sector in the next decade and beyond, largely through the rise of artificial intelligence and related technological developments.
He said these will create major implications for the future workforce, leaving the next generation of school-leavers facing an uncertain future if the tertiary sector doesn’t evolve.
“We’re living in transformational times, and we’re only going to see further change come through as a result of science and technology-driven innovation,” Dr Coates said.
In his lecture Universities 2050: skills, jobs, learning and the changing world of 21st century universities, Dr Coates will outline steps universities can take to avoid becoming irrelevant.
“What we have to do now is prepare students to respond to the challenges of the 21st century – not the jobs of the 1990s – by aligning programs, training and education with the requirements of the future workforce,” he said.
Dr Coates said universities would do well to evolve in the way the entertainment and banking industries have done. The tertiary system, he said, requires major technology-driven changes to offset looming job losses.
“The university system may have reached its peak contribution,” Dr Coates said. “We’re seeing major issues around the employment of graduates, core competency and skills development. Most worrying is the rise of competitors – private, online, micro-courses and work-based learning.”
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Deep Saini said the University is conscious of these challenges and is adapting to the changing environment to cement itself as an indispensable part of the future workforce’s learning journey.
“Over the next 15 years, the University’s Bruce campus will be transformed to accommodate the needs of students who will be entering a vastly different workplace to the ones we see today,” Professor Saini said.
“We will have on campus world-class facilities to foster innovative research and learning outcomes. Our health students and researchers, for example, will have access to the new state-of-the-art University of Canberra Public Hospital right on our doorstep.”
Dr Coates is the Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. He is also a Munk Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a non-partisan public policy think tank.
In addition to his long-standing interest in post-secondary education and the social impact of science and technology, Dr Coates has worked extensively on Canada’s Indigenous rights and economic development in small towns and rural areas.
He has a PhD in Canadian History from the University of British Columbia and is the co-author of a series of books on post-secondary education. He has also authored several of his own works.
Dr Coates is currently working on a series of projects related to the transformation of work and society through digital technologies and artificial intelligence.
- Dr Coates is available for interview. Media are invited to attend the lecture.
WHAT: Universities 2050: Skills, jobs, learning and the changing world of 21st century universities public lecture by Canadian education expert Dr Ken Coates
WHEN: TONIGHT, Monday 27 February, 5.30pm – 7pm
WHERE: Building 1 Theatrette, Level A, Room 121, University of Canberra (behind Mizzuna Café) (campus map)
Contact the University of Canberra media team:
Claudia Doman: 0408 826 362
Antony Perry: 0434 795 919