Universities will be very different

IN THE past month, our lives have been turned upside down in the nicest possible way by the arrival of our first grandchild, a big, healthy baby boy with a fabulous set of lungs.

We spend a lot of time looking intently at him, wondering what sort of boy and man he will become.

With his long hands and feet, there is no doubt he will be very tall like his father and both grandfathers.

We wonder about his personality, and hope that he will be easy going like his parents, and athletic like both.

We can’t help thinking about what the future will hold for him.

While I suspect his schooling will be very similar to his Millennial parents, there is no doubt that universities will be very different in 20 years’ time.

Already we as universities are catering for the different learning and future job needs of Generations X, Y, Z and Generation Alpha (our current school leavers).

While the Baby Boomers of my generation enjoyed (endured?) a university experience of lectures and tutorials with a rigid curriculum, students of today have many more choices on how, where and what they want to study – in fact around 70 per cent of our students at USQ already study online.

Many of our students are not school leavers, which means that they come back to study in later life, looking for flexible options.

There has been plenty of debate about how robotics and automation will change the nature of work.

What we do know is that people will still be needed, probably to do the more specialised and strategic tasks, and that university degrees will still be valued.

Whatever happens, we know that rapid change will be part of it.

I suspect that parents and grandparents were thinking about this very same question at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s.

So to all new parents and grandparents gazing in wonder at a very small person, with big eyes and a loud roar, may we all enjoy this very special time, whatever the future holds for these precious little ones.

‘‘ ALREADY WE AS UNIVERSITIES ARE CATERING FOR THE DIFFERENT LEARNING AND FUTURE JOB NEEDS OF GENERATIONS X, Y, Z AND GENERATION ALPHA (OUR CURRENT SCHOOL LEAVERS).