Exploring the prospects for higher education | Expert Speak - Observer Research Foundation

This article is part of GP-ORF series — From Alpha Century to Viral World: The Raisina Young Fellows Speak.

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Only by combining both AI and communities will higher education be relevant and prepare students for the adventures of the fourth industrial revolution, said Utkarsh Amitabh, founder of Networkcapital.tv. 

Photo: Observer Research Foundation

Lynda Gratton and Andrew J. Scott, authors of The 100-Year Life^[1], offer three defining features of work in the twenty-first century. First, people are likely to live much longer; being a centenarian will be commonplace. Second, the lifespan of organisations will significantly reduce, so long-term employment will become a thing of the past. Third, the concept of retirement will fade away, partly due to financial reasons and partly out of choice.

Combining these factors, it is easy to visualise how one might have to spend several more years learning and unlearning to build a viable portfolio of careers. If higher education institutions are not doing their job, what are our alternatives?

What we are witnessing now is the great unbundling of education where different companies and communities are attempting to capture one part of the bundle.

Historically, education was an amorphous bundle of core skills, soft skills, critical thinking, signalling value and networking...

AI + community = Future of learning

The factory-inspired, nineteenth century model of education made sense when there were severe limitations on teaching resources. But AI can help us overcome such constraints by leveraging three of its defining features — perception, recognition and recommendation, thereby creating personalised learning for students and more free time for instructors.

An AI-powered higher education experience will operate on four planes — virtual teaching, learning assessment, opportunity matching for internships and jobs, and mentoring from peers and experts.

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Source: Observer Research Foundation