Generation Z – Why we need to future-proof universities

Future-proof universities 

Article by Tom White

Brought up in a world of smartphones, high speed wi-fi and technology on tap, Generation Z's lives revolve around a digital world...

So, for example, how are we putting digital technology at the very heart of our education system? Let’s take a lecture theatre, for example: how is this a digitally interactive experience for students? How can students access learning materials, resources and academic papers? Is an intranet system really going to cut it?...

Technology is obviously a key area where universities can make improvements. However, considering just how familiar Generation Z is with marketing techniques, smart and truly engaging content needs to be a major priority.

From: University World News

10 June 2016 Issue No:417

Can universities survive the digital age?

The fifth annual international IE University conference on “Reinventing Higher Education” discussed Bologna, English as the lingua franca and engagement between business and universities. But perhaps it will be the ‘digital natives’ of the next generation who will be higher education’s greatest challenge...

“I was not taught digital marketing in my degree because the change in the business model was so rapid that the university did not have time to adapt,” said Cristina Rojas, 23, an economics graduate.

Rojas added that in 2013 Facebook and Twitter were only known as social networks, they had not developed their marketing potential online and “professors did not even know that they existed”...

Santiago Iñiguez, President of IE University, concluded: “The Millennial generation is creative, cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial, sociable, with a distinctive global awareness and commitment, and they demand more control over their own learning experience.

From: University World News, Paul Rigg, 31 Oct 2014, Issue no. 341

How to transform the higher education sector in South Africa

 How to transform the higher education sector 

The role of universities in fostering both their own transformation and the transformation of society at large came under intense scrutiny in a packed Baxter Concert Hall on 21 October 2014. Top university leaders debated issues of transformation in a discussion organised by UCT’s Faculty of Humanities and chaired by its dean, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu.

Watch the video of the debate
Sharing the panel with UCT Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price were Professor Jonathan Jansen, rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, and Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, vice principal for research and innovation at the University of South Africa.

From: UCT's Daily News, 21 October 2014, Story by Yusuf Omar, Image by Michael Hammond

Reports on Humanities in SA - relevancy & future actions 2014+?

1. Report on the Charter for Humanities and Social Sciences 2011

Report commissioned by the Minister of Higher Education & Training for the charter for Humanities and Social Sciences June 2011

Department Higher Education and Training, Republic of South Africa

2. Consensus Study on the State of Humanities in South Africa: status, prospects and strategies

Published by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)  August 2011

ISBN- 978-0-9814159-3-2

Humanities Graduates valued/needed?

Move over, Stem: why the world needs humanities graduates

Global problems can't be resolved without a humanities perspective, so academics need to get out into the world and make the case for their subject...

So what's up with our cloistered historians and philosophers, our literary critics, classicists and scholars of the fine, performing and otherwise liberal arts? Clearly there's some gathering global anxiety within the academy and it's mainly around the difficulty of getting broader social recognition for the two convictions about humanities that are motivating these discussions.

Humanities graduates have unique skills

Humanities perspective is needed in all global challenges

From: The Guardian's Higher Education Network, posted by Paul Smith 19 March 2014
Paul Smith is director of the British Council in the US. He spoke at Oxford University as part of the activist humanities conference.

 

Academics Anonymous...

Academics Anonymous: break down barriers between disciplines

 & Three ways we are stifling research

Universities are outdated – big problems require thinkers who can transcend the traditional boundaries between subjects

Academics from different disciplines need to work together more. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

The world is changing at an incredible rate. Pressing problems like climate change and the related social unrest are connected to an ever-growing population and dwindling resources. It has become clear that these vast problems cannot be answered by single academic disciplines, working within archaic institutional settings and throttled by systemic boundaries.
Working across disciplines is the key to answering the big questions, focusing on what is needed to solve problems, and transcending the boundaries of conventional approaches and disciplines. However, in academia we have put boundaries in place to stop this happening, and the pace of change to adopt new strategies is glacial at best.
From: The Guardian, Higher Education Network  30 May 2014

State of Humanities in South Africa, 2009-2010 debates

A list of links to articles, reports, interviews etc on the status and role of the Humanities in South Africa

Includes the Mellon Report on Reforming the Humanities Ph.D. & Keith Thomas's TLS article on:

What are Universities For?

Content from the ASSAf website ( Academy of Science of South Africa)