Universities of Tomorrow

Digital technologies have not only transformed media, retail, entertainment and other businesses, but also the education in all sectors ranging from primary to high school; graduation to the doctorate, everything is being made simple and accessible. Campuses remain the same, the teaching patterns have changed.

The competition for students and universities are reaching new levels of intensity. In the impending years, Universities of tomorrow, including private colleges, can perceive rise in costs, style of lecturing, examination patterns, cramming the syllabus.

Human population and demand for education are increasing proportionally. World’s top universities are evolving as this universities offer massive online courses to meet the demands of education. One may require laptop, or smartphone with an internet connection to access their course. No mere tool, a computer is a necessary partner in building creativity, intelligence and cognition. Internet provides a broad range of materials that replaces the library. Successful universities attract major part of students due to its greater reputation, and for some it is a failure making them hard to survive.

Some universities have started offering the facility to spend their first year of learning through MOOC (massive open online courses) to students. The following two years by attending regular classes, while a final year can be of part-time work and study online. Digital technologies are involved in content creation, content aggregation, mass distribution and much more. New universities will enter in partnership with these companies to create content for their courses and establish businesses powerfully. Global mobility is another factor that will continue to grow in creating opportunities to intellectual students. Growing source of talent in both developed and developing universities has a demand for growing mobility due to its user-friendly aspect.

These universities are thriving to establish relationships with industries to provide research-based education to their students. Partnering with industries will become a critical source to gain a competitive advantage to compete in the market. Research will enable students to develop more knowledge by learning using real-time projects and become innovative by applying skills.

The universities will be persuaded to develop and adapt new business models, recruit efficient staff to increase student enrolment and funding. Many universities and institutions will operate like corporations in order to avoid academic inquiry and achieve long-term associations. Private institutions brilliantly exploit advantageous niche markets, while others will create own sources of value by specializing in preferred parts of the education chain. Policymakers of universities will seek to have a steady and sustainable growth in accessing the university education. By incorporating the programs related to the knowledge center will automatically compress the public threads for higher education providers.

Universities will ideally seek government partners to become increasingly influential in promoting their institution. Policy makers will need to find a way in having new models to provide flexibility in rising costs.

This futuristic universities will be forced to adapt many changes that come through decision makers. Universities will have to focus on executing the strategy around student circle that meets their preferences and needs such as college leavers, traveling internationally, and mature age

Universities will have to commit to maintaining a competitive position domestically and internationally over a wide range of programs to create resources. Universities will need to establish channels to market their courses and enable third party partnership in recruiting students and deliver innovative teaching and research programs.

At present, many universities have more administrative and support staff rather than teaching staff. This ratio needs to be changed in the upcoming years. Universities will need to focus on streamlining service models to drive efficiency. Universities will build strong partnership with industries to support R&D activities in the college. Universities will concentrate to add reliability and academic capability and should always protect their brands.

On a Concluding Note

As the technological advancements grow, universities will have to constantly respond to them to ensure quality and excellence in teaching and to be in tune with the times. They will need to develop new models that will integrate academic changes and teaching models. Both undergraduate and postgraduate programs space have become highly competitive. Universities must intensify their commercial skills to acquire right deals and new entrants. Of course, there are many unanswered questions that need to be answered by experts.

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