New era for lifelong learning

SINGAPORE - That university degree you have under your belt may no longer be good enough in the next 10 years, at the rate the knowledge- and technologically based economy is developing.

The way forward, is Continuing Education for Adults - an aspect that is expected to be prevalent in the future, says Dr Ismail Serageldin.

This was one of the key points the founding director of The Bibliotheca Alexandria raised during his talk, Global Challenges And The University Of Tomorrow.

Held at The Pod at the National Library, the presentation on March 26 drew about 40 people and was organised by the National Library Board.

No stranger to Singapore, Dr Ismail was here in August last year to speak at the International Summit of the Book and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions World Library and Information Congress.

In his most recent talk, he addressed how the Internet has brought about a knowledge revolution and changed the way we interact with information.

This revolution will have a profound impact on educational institutions - from kindergarten through university - and, in particular, the importance of Continuing Education for Adults.

The rise of continuing education

If labour productivity is to continue to increase, Continuing Education for Adults will have to become a necessity, says Dr Ismail.

He explains: "Constant updating of knowledge and skills will be necessary, and a vast programme of adult education will become an integral part of the university of the future.

"It will allow for flexible career transitions and the modular upgrading of skills in different disciplines."

Solving problems together

The Internet is opening undreamed of vistas of possibilities, including the "flipped classroom", says Dr Ismail.

The conventional approach - where the classroom "face time" is used for lectures and students do the exercises and problem-solving on their own - is "flipped" around as lectures are recorded separately.

This allows students to watch the lectures on their own time and use the classroom face time to work together with their teachers on problem-solving and other tasks.

University is no longer just for academics

Many of the traditional functions of the university - such as the search for truth through research, dissemination and discussion, the defence of values, the mediation of transitions in young people's lives and, most dramatically, the certification of having achieved a certain level of marketable skills - will remain.

With continuing education, the university is not only going to remain the central part of a changing higher education system, it is also going to remain a physical presence in communities and cities, and the campus will remain a locus of interaction, not just within the university community, but also between the university and society.

Universities in the United States put many courses online, but that did not result in the decline of applicants wanting to obtain the brick-and-mortar learning experience.

"Despite the enormous impact of the ICT (information and communication technology) revolution on many aspects of the learning experience, I do not believe that the university as a physical location will simply disappear," says Dr Ismail.

Lifelong learning

The lifelong learners of the future, Dr Ismail believes, will be driven by curiosity and self-interest, and will desire to alternate between broadening their knowledge base through hobbies and acquiring marketable skills.

"The old model of 12 years of schooling, followed by four years of university and a degree that allows someone to practise a profession for 40 years and then retire is no longer valid," he says.

"We need to re-think our education system because of our changing economy. The old jobs are not going to come back. Why drill our kids in yesterday's skills?"

Many jobs that call for repetitive tasks can be replaced by machines and robots in the future, he adds.

A transparent partnership model

Universities can adopt a business model of open governance structure and seek to involve business partners including private sector, government and the civil society, says Dr Ismail.

Clear expectations and transparency in the use of the funds that each party has allocated to the university are crucial, he says.

"The fine-tuning of this business model will raise the question of the right balance between research and teaching, the role of the university as adviser to the government and the undertaking of programmes simply because they are popular with the civil society.

"It will also raise questions about changing the profiles of the faculty.

"But that is where the governance structure comes in as a corrective to ensure that the university does not drift towards a profit-making business model at the expense of its educational and cultural mission," he says.

The heart of civil discourse

With returning older former students joining a growing number of programmes catering to the demand for Continuing Education for Adults, the university will become a place for citizens to be "exposed to the notions of civil discourse, dialogue and orderly debate of complex ideas in the framework of pluralism and mutual respect".

"That is a core function of the university of tomorrow, especially in these times of rapid change and globalisation, says Dr Ismail.

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