Shifting Sands in Global HE
– How Will it Play Out?
3rd QS MAPLE
Dr Sonal Minocha
Dean, University of Bedfordshire Business
School
May 2013
Why this Presentation?
• ‘Storm’ conditions are emerging to support radical
innovation of Higher Education and universities
• Globally – the growth space for HE are the growth
economies - India, China, Africa, South America eg one third
of all graduates globally will be Chinese by 2020
• Collaborative models and private sector global providers of
education emerging to address growth opportunities
• ‘Steady as you go’ strategies by traditional universities
will be high risk for the majority – so what should they
do in terms of innovation? Use University of
Bedfordshire as an example!
The Demise of the Traditional University
Model is a Live Debate .......
• See Barber et al (2013)
their key themes:
– unbundling of university
model is happening
– globalisation and technology
are major drivers
– cost and value of education
challenged by ‘consumers’
– major theme of innovation is
‘education for employability’
– new global entrants likely to
lead HE growth with
traditional universities on a
‘steady as you go strategy’
Shifting Sands – Making Sense
of the Global HE Context
..... this is the basis of the popular narrative but scope for imagination!!
Shifting Sands- What are the
Implications for Education Futures?
Imagining education futures is not easy but five
themes to reflect on:
•
increased strategic role of education in economies to sustain growth and
innovation
•
Increase in HE private sector organisations able to innovate and operate
globally across national systems
•
technology driven model of learning reducing cost of HE eg Christensen
(2011)
•
nature of degrees change – flip from campus to work based learning?
•
innovation will be drawn by growth markets and will drive change in
traditional university model & systems
Examples of Innovation in the
Global HE Space
• KaosPilots: http://www.kaospilot.dk/
• Draper University: http://draperuniversity.com/
• 2iE – International Institute for Water and
Environmental Engineering: http://www.2ieedu.org/index.php
Innovation is happening in traditional university space and
growth economy space driven by shifting sands .......
Imagining the Next Decade for
Traditional Universities
• Global brand traditional universities eg Oxford, Harvard will
continue to thrive with ‘add-on’ innovations to the traditional
model
• Majority of traditional universities in developed economies
will focus on differentiation of their educational model –
innovation will be radical to support a global market
offering; or a national/local/specialised university model
• Major theme of innovation for majority of traditional
universities will be new models of off-campus learning eg
blended learning and/or work based learning
• A niche group of traditional universities will focus on
government funded research activity, increasingly linked to
the needs of industry
University of Beds Business School
– How is it Responding?
• Business PODs
• Practice Weeks
Designed to enhance graduate level
employability
Business PODs
Teaching spaces designed
like modern offices
Working in groups from
other business courses
Teachers with business and
teaching experience
90% of our graduates are, after six months in jobs
or studying for a higher degree...
(DLHE 2010, 2011, 2012)
Business PODs
Integrates academic and
practice rigour
Brainstorming, IT and
boardroom areas
Practical skills employers
value
Live projects for practice
intelligence
The knowledge, mindset
and skills required by employers.
Business PODs
“I’ve learned so much about how I
operate as an individual, my
strengths and weaknesses, how to
sell my good points and how to
understand different opinions”
“I love the relaxed nature and the
open-door policy in the pods, the
small groups and the crossdiscipline nature of them”
Enhanced employability skills and better
prospects for our graduates.
Practice weeks-an example from
last week!
Ubershop – loyalty scheme – how
to attract 100,000 customers
Luton Town Football Club – how
to attract a diverse fan base
Runaway Media – social
enterprise video company looking
for sustained growth.
Practice weeks
Three companies presented
problems to students
Students work in groups to
solve problems
Supervised by tutors and
learning new skills
Competitive presentations
back to the companies
Practice weeks outcomes
Integrating course content –
Strategy, Operations, Marketing &
Finance.
Practice skills such as group
working, project management
presentation and business
research
Three project placements related
to results
Open Discussion: Shaping
Castles from the Shifting Sands?
• Innovation is difficult and challenging for
traditional universities – reflections on innovation
enablers and disablers in your context?
• Global HE is the market space or is it? How can
traditional universities operating in nationally
based educational systems compete globally?
• Establish a new 21st Century University – the
‘University for Global Business and Innovation’ –
What might be the features of the business
model? The educational model?