Trends in higher education note institutions must be proactive and agile if they are to maintain a competitive advantage
The world is constantly changing, and the knowledge and skills we acquire today may become outdated tomorrow. What trends in higher education can we expect to prepare students for the ever-changing workforce of the future?
Firstly, educators must evolve their teaching methods and adapt to new technologies and resources. It’s important to stay informed about the data trends shaping higher education over the next 12 months to ensure that we equip students with the necessary tools for success.
The growth of hybrid learning
In research commissioned by Anthology, we found that student preferences for courses ‘delivered fully online’ were twice as high as the goals of the universities we surveyed.
While universities were more committed to a mix of ‘delivering fully online and fully in-person courses’, only 26% of university leaders noted a significant increase in the number of digital learning tools utilized at their institution over the last two years.
As demand for online education grows, and competition increases among degree providers, the challenge remains to keep up with rapidly advancing technology while providing meaningful human interaction and support to students in the online environment.
Job certainty for prospective students
Students, including prospective students, are questioning the return on investment of their degree and what jobs their degree will prepare them for. From our survey, 58% of students globally said they ‘want more career-focused services designed to help them secure a job after graduation’.
The workplace evolves quickly and jobs that didn’t even exist a few years ago, like Blockchain Analyst and Cloud Architect, are now some of the most popular STEM fields. The challenge to institutions is to teach relevant, in-demand skills while promoting critical thinking and creativity that align with the needs of the market.
Student well-being
The trends in higher education, considering student mental health, are alarming. 43% of global students in our survey reported ‘struggling with their emotional wellbeing’.
Institutions have a vested interest in developing solutions which address these challenges, including prioritising student well-being and offering support resources. Effective learning cannot occur without a foundation of good health and well-being.
Teaching driven by data
Trends in higher education show that data-driven instructions can inform and improve education, yet in our survey, a staggering 94% of higher education leaders say they are ‘still looking for new opportunities to aggregate and analyse student data to provide more insights as they consider student needs of the future’.
The challenge is to incorporate data-driven teaching whilst meeting the highest privacy standards and using the data ethically and transparently to benefit the institutions and the students.
The trends driving the evolution of education indicates an exciting chapter ahead with lots of opportunities for higher education leaders to be at the forefront in shaping today’s education practices to support tomorrow’s workforce.
This piece was written and provided by Louise Thorpe. Louise is Vice President and Head of Client Experience, EMEA at Anthology.
