The New Edition of The Future of Universities Thoughtbook Just Launched!

Are North American universities set for a bleak future or are they about to take an even more central role in an increasingly global world? As the rate of change in our societies accelerates and technology is increasingly adopted, universities face challenges like never before. Imagining how the future of universities might unfold in the light of these challenges is a difficult task, but it is a necessary one if universities are to recapture a preeminent societal role.

This is precisely the task tackled by The Future of Universities Thoughtbook | North American Edition, which focuses on the future of the North American higher education system. Yes, even in North American institutions, many of whom are regularly thought to be the envy of the world, transformative and fast-paced circumstances today require new ideas for inspiring the university of the future.

The Thoughtbook artfully collates a group of 40 diverse voices and narratives while sketching out the future roles of universities, their relevance, and their evolving position within the broader ecosystem of knowledge and innovation production. Collectively, professionals from across a spectrum of university, non-profit, industry, higher education associations, and government conceive a future pathway for universities to embrace their potential for intentional impact locally and globally over the coming 20 years. The authors’ broad areas of expertise, experience, and influence provide a thought-provoking 360-degree review of the pending North American higher education ecosystem.

Amongst the contributors are thought leaders like Ted Mitchell, the President of the American Council on Education, who describes the innovativeness and relevance of US universities, Gregory W. Fowler, President of SNHU’s Global Campus, who shifts the focus of our thinking from industry changes to the disruptions that are likely for the lives of the learners, and Elizabeth Dearborn-Hughes, CEO and co-founder of Davis College, who foresees a change in education through stackable and modularized academic programs as part of global universities. While Andrew Petter, President, and Vice-Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, highlights the reasons why AI will help higher education, Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academic of Sciences, emphasizes the critical importance of university-industry-government partnerships.

Initiated by Lumina Foundation, UIIN and Siemens, this edition of The Thoughtbook becomes a thought-starter for the development of the Future-Oriented North American University whereby academics and students work in real-time symbiotic partnerships with industry, government, and societal stakeholders to simultaneously create and implement new knowledge and solutions to address business and social issues.

Editors: Arno Meerman, Balzhan Orazbayeva, Todd Davey, Cameron McCoy, Carolin Plewa, Victoria Galan Muros, Mason Ailstock, Courtney Brown

For more information about the editors or on FUT please visit the FUT website: www.futureuniversities.com