Universities of the Future to Pave Way for More Inclusive Education and Research

The first set of articles from The Future of Universities Thoughtbook |North American Edition brings the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, Feridun Hamdullahpur, Director of Engineering Extension and Outreach for the University of Florida’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, Kimberley Jacobs, and the incoming Vice-President, Equity People and Culture at York University, Canada, Sheila Cote-Meek.

In his vision “The Front Door to Innovation of Talent and Trusted Knowledge Through Research” Feridun Hamdullahpur stresses that barriers only serve to slow universities. By diminishing boundaries, we begin to create the role of innovation and establish universities as change makers, predicting a growing role of collaboration, experiential education and global reach.

In the article “Towards a More Perfect Union” Kimberley Jacobs looks towards advancing society with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by promoting the idea that institutions have to rise above the current need-driven, reactionary approach. Instead institutions should understand how technology can be leveraged to foster equity, whilst being in perfect harmony with the moral and ethical considerations and the diversity of humanity.

Sheila Cote-Meek envisions the movement of responding to the needs of Indigenous people will continue and their knowledge on the environment, sustainability and survival may be an important source to respond to global issues in her article “Increasing Indigenous Peoples Participation in Higher Education”.

The Future of Universities Thoughtbook | North American Edition is a compilation of 40 visions written by North American experts detailing what universities will look like by 2040.

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. They are divided into 5 thematic sections – Disrupting Education, Collision of Technology and Humanity, Socially Engaged University, University-Business Cooperation and Institutional Change. With different foci, each of them contributes to creating insightful for further dialogue on how universities would shape the future by 2040. In doing so, a wide palette of university future scenarios comes to light.

For more information and to order or download your copy of The Future of Universities Thoughtbook | North American Edition visit our website  www.future-universities.com.

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