Education, corporate and philanthropic leaders from around the world say they believe that many colleges will be unrecognizable in another decade and that the U.S. will face a global economic crisis unless millions more low-income students attain college degrees.
Participating in a two-day summit in Essex, N.Y., were 60 individuals from China, Ireland, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, France and the United States, representing a dozen colleges and universities, eight foundations, six corporations and 15 secondary schools, including executives from Google, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GE Foundation, Ernst & Young, University of Michigan, Harvard, Trinity College Dublin and Beijing Normal University, among others.
“Our outstanding participants included five lead speakers who framed the key issues surrounding college 2025,” said Rick Dalton, president and CEO of College For Every Student, the organization that sponsored the Summit with Trinity College Dublin. “These speakers are futurists, experts in teaching and learning, recognized globally. We even had a 10-time Oscar winner.”
Emerging Technology Trends
Dr. Nicholas Haan, a futurist from Singularity University in California, said, “We must leverage the exponential technology trends and the disruption that’s upon us to solve today’s inequalities and inefficiencies in education.”
Haan provided examples of the technology trends that will affect education in the near future, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, as well as Digital Manufacturing. He urged attendees to view challenges as problems that can be solved.
“We need to throw out our old thinking and prepare ourselves for a world that is collaborative, ongoing and personalized.”
