policy & reform campusreview . com . au
Campus corpus ?
New report predicts ‘ the death of the campus ’ and warns the sector must adapt quickly .
By Wade Zaglas
A number of serious predictions about Australia ’ s higher education sector have been released in a report by EY ( formerly Ernst and Young ). The report – titled The peak of higher education – a new world for the university of the future – bases its findings on 32 in-depth interviews with leading university vice-chancellors and experts from around Australia and New Zealand , as well as data points from EY market research . Among the first predictions is that COVID-19 will drastically change the university experience in the future , as “ on-campus learning increasingly goes digital , on demand and close to free ”.
EY also predicts that the high student numbers Australian universities have become used to , particularly in the last decade , are “ unlikely to return to the highwater mark of 2019 ”. In another departure from the past , EY believes universities “ will need to learn to be less reliant on government funding for undergraduate places , as well as international students to pay the bills as student levels decline ”.
However , on a less stark note , perhaps , the report also envisions that tertiary education will be increasingly “ tied to employers ” as graduates who possess on-the-job learning and micro-credentials will be increasingly “ in favour with employers when making hiring decisions ”.
So , how will the higher education sector , formerly worth 40-odd billion dollars to the economy in its heyday , reposition itself to survive and thrive ? EY believes it must become a “ knowledge services sector to attract students ”. But , for this to happen , EY also asserts the following . 1 . The campus is dead : Rather than sitting in a classroom at a set time , students are seeking on-demand access to personalised and high-quality learning materials from a digital platform .
2 . Work is the new university : Employer-licensed accreditation courses take on universities for workplace relevance and students will seek out credentials that will best position them for guaranteed employment .
3 . Learners are empowered by choice and aided AI : Spotify-style platforms recommending courses based on student interests and aptitude .
4 . Commercialised research to fund university operations : Corporates , governments , venture capitalists and foundations post business issues and research topics to an “ innovation marketplace ”. The report ’ s author , Catherine Friday , EY Global Head of Education , said the pandemic has exposed the searching our universities must do “ when it comes to finding their place in the future of education ”.
“ Our universities cannot rely on ever increasing inflows of domestic and international students to pay the bills , with student levels unlikely to return to 2019 levels as the sector continues to reel from the pandemic ,” Friday said .
“ COVID-19 completely exposed the over-reliance on on-campus learning and international students in Australia ’ s higher education system .”
What Friday calls the “ traditional draw cards ” and “ revenue streams ”
of Australian universities were destroyed by the pandemic as borders closed to international students early on and campuses have been off limits for great periods of time .
“ Since the onset of the pandemic , our research shows that 65 per cent of Australians [ looking to study ] would consider enrolling themselves in online learning anywhere in the world . At the same time , one-third of Gen Z ( people born between 1997-2012 ) respondents said the pandemic will change the way they study over the long term . This is particularly insightful as they leave high school and consider their options for work and education .”
Friday predicts that , with fewer students , “ the traditional university campus is dead ” and the sector must transition quickly to offer more digital and on-demand courses to attract the students of tomorrow .
“ In 2018 , EY predicted that Australia ’ s higher education system needed radical reform by 2030 to guarantee its future . However , COVID-19 brought forward the need for systemic reform to now ,” Friday said .
“ The traditional university degree , once a ticket for lifelong employment , continues to fall out of favour with employers and students . Instead , there is increasing demand for learning that is continual , flexible , customisable , and close to free .
“ At the same time as changing preferences , cost and delivery models for universities are in crisis . Traditional degree courses are spiralling out of reach of more learners , while the federal government is failing to recover a higher proportion of traditional degree loans .”
In conclusion , Friday says a robust higher education system can still exist in the future , but a number of roadblocks must be removed .
“[ Success ] will require systemic reform from the sector and government to meet the converging challenges of changing preferences , ongoing public health restrictions and competition from upstart and international education providers ,” she said .
However , professor emeritus at Griffith University and founder of HEDx Martin Betts says that while “ the paper is right to paint a picture of a sector undergoing accelerated change and transformation in strategies and business models ... calling it a peak is misleading ”.
12