Universities as understood in the 20th century have disappeared. Campuses are cancelled, and universities’ estates contract into ‘rent by the hour’ teaching spaces. Teaching is sold through a hyper-fragmented market of education services, and higher education is re-framed as ‘super-skilling’. Small-scale ‘learning shots’ are marketed directly to learners, via a network of outsourced provider-academics connected through a handful of global digital platforms.
People learn through life, accumulating various forms of micro-credit in a portfolio validated through reputation management systems and performance analytics. Academics are loosely affiliated to industry-funded research collectives of varying prestige and no physical location. They sell their teaching freelance, creating a new divide between millionaire academic superstars and those who scrape a living from poorly-paid teaching piecework.
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Links
Next scenario (Justice-driven innovation)
Higher Education Futures (project page)