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ON CAMPUS
What lies ahead
for higher ed?
Transforming tertiary education
in the post-COVID world.
By Keitha Dunstan
Universities could axe their
end-of-semester exams, big
lectures and even paper, as trends
emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Higher education will enter the
‘new normal’ with an evolved learning
and teaching model. More authentic
assessments, individualised lifelong
learning and face-to-face delivery merged
with technology in a multimodal delivery
format will likely dominate the higher
education sector in a post-pandemic world.
One thing the sector has learnt since
switching to remote learning is that
students are enjoying being able to access
classes, lecturers and support services
using technology.
Students will want this real-time online
support to continue, so I do not think we
will be able to take that away. However,
critically, students are also missing the
classroom experience.
I think the future lies with a better hybrid
model, one based on face-to-face learning,
but with increased augmentation using
integrated technological enhancements
that go further than our past models of
blended learning.
In line with this, learning materials will be
different. When COVID-19 hit, universities
moved quickly to remote learning using
adapted teaching materials that were not
purpose-built. In the future, universities will
need to purpose-build learning materials for
this hybrid multimodal delivery.
The COVID-19 disruption has forced
universities to complete our first semester
of 2020 without invigilated, paper-based
end-of-semester exams. This natural
experiment has provided proof of concept
that there are other forms of summative
assessment that provide suitable assurance
of learning that are in fact more authentic.
Making a change to authentic
assessments will have one other
environmentally friendly knock-on
effect. There is a very real possibility that
universities of the future can be paperless,
because a lot of paper is generated
unnecessarily, through antiquated styles of
doing assessments and exams. If we get
rid of that, perhaps we will not have to use
paper anymore.
The success of the remote delivery of
large lectures, together with future social
distancing requirements, will make large
face-to-face lectures a thing of the past.
The idea of having a talking head in front
of hundreds of students in a face-to-face
format is almost absurd to think about in
our new environment.
With all these changes comes the need
for new business models as universities
realise they can no longer rely on the
revenue generated from large numbers of
international students.
This means diversifying revenue streams,
thinking about new types of learners and
placing a greater emphasis on lifelong
learning. There will be an increased
focus on new short courses such as
microcredentials. Universities will need
to be more responsive to what learners
actually need, as opposed to retaining a
focus on whole-of-degree study.
Globally, universities will be important
players in the recovery from COVID-19. Our
researchers and educators will contribute to
the health, economic and social recovery
of the world.
Universities have taken a battering
for a while in the so-called ‘fake news’
environment, with many people choosing
to listen to influencers rather than experts.
But when things go wrong, people want
to listen to experts, so universities have the
opportunity to earn back their credibility.
But as well as expertise, universities can
provide a pathway for those seeking to
make their way in an uncertain new world.
There is no doubt industries will change,
some will die out, and new industries will
spring up. Universities will have a key role
to play in educating future workforces to
take up opportunities in those new and
emerging industries.
The world needs a future workforce that
is adaptable, creative and resilient. We will
need to be more responsive to the needs
of learners and what industry and the
community expect from us. Our courses
will need to emphasise the so-called
‘soft skills’ valued by employers. At Bond
University, we have reinvented ‘soft skills’ as
‘essential skills’. Our Transformation CoLab
was established to work with industry to
ensure that Bond graduates master these
essential skills. Bond’s Health, Digital,
Legal and Entrepreneurial Transformation
degrees, launched in 2020, specifically
focus on workplace-based learning and
prepare our students to apply design
thinking to create innovative solutions.
Our world post-COVID-19 will look very
different to the one we inhabited before.
At a time where global movement
remains constrained, where nationalism
remains on the rise and where
governments remain locked into election
cycle short-termism, universities have an
opportunity.
In the ‘new normal’, universities can be
the glue that holds together international
harmony, to take the long-term view and
think about what a global recovery looks
like for the betterment of humankind.
As the critics and conscience of society,
this is a leadership role that we must step
up to. ■
Professor Keitha Dunstan is deputy vice
chancellor (academic) at Bond University.
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