[Un article de The Conversation écrit par François Taddei – Président (Chief Exploration Officer), Learning Planet Institute (LPI) – Pavel Luksha – Chercheur associé, Learning Planet Institute (LPI)]
In this context, the university is also at the crossroads. Strengthened by a multisecular history of resilience and adaptation, heir to the ideals of the Enlightenment and anchored in the paradigms inherited from the industrial revolution, it must today adapt its fundamental missions – the education, research and development of society – to the challenges of our time.
If they want to adapt to the acceleration of world changes and technology, all universities through the planet would benefit from reinventing themselves.
The traditional university model is out of breath
The golden age of the university seems to be over. Produced from modernity in the West, its advances in ideas and technologies, it also carries the limits and perpetuates (often unconsciously) disciplinary paradigms, and sometimes a colonial, patriarchal and extractivist heritage, rooted in European history.
But it is only an aspect of the multidimensional crisis that universities are going through today, a crisis that touches their fundamental missions of education, research and contribution to the development of societies as a whole.
The university's educational mission is called into question: students are waiting to be trained in skills that will allow them to be actors in change (in entrepreneurship, sustainability, digital, society) but university structures, sometimes rigid, do not always manage to adapt their contents and formats to the needs of young people in the end of the urgency of transitions.
Conversely, the vast majority of academic routes remain in disciplinary frameworks that are not open to a diversity of knowledge. However, the future of education is based on “polyversity”, a model that encourages collaboration between communities to meet planetary challenges.
The university's research mission is also in crisis. The teacher-researchers evolve in a system that values hyper-productivity (“publish or perish”, race for funding …) and competition (measured by the volume of scientific production or institutional renown) in order to be the best in the world, when they should aspire to be “the best for the world”.
On the other hand, universities are now competed with agile and hybrid players (companies, NGOs, think tanks) more capable of offering concrete solutions to current challenges, especially in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), however essential.
The last mission of the university, that of its contribution to the development of society, also crosses. University institutions lack resources to respond fairly quickly and widely to the major contemporary challenges and are too often constrained by political or economic interests, as evidenced by the situation in the United States.
The emergence of artificial intelligence exacerbates the crisis of the university
The accelerated evolution of AI models capable of performing the majority of intellectual and cognitive tasks pushes universities to take up an even greater challenge. They are already on the way to losing their educational monopoly with the personalized learning proposed by AI and may ultimately lose their role as producers of knowledge since AI now reaches more fields an expertise that can deserve a Nobel Prize.
While knowledge ceases to be a “competitive advantage” for universities as for students and researchers, they must rethink what makes their specificity and show the added value of their humanity. In addition, in a world saturated with AI, young people, already in the grip of fragile mental health, will be affected by technological changes at work, which intensify their anxiety.
The university has all the assets to accept its planetary mission
Faced with this polycris, universities have no choice but to redefine their reason for being: “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize that we only have” said Confucius. Universities enter their second life: some are already forced to close, many others will disappear if they do not adapt.
The university institution, however, has all the cards in hand to reinvent itself and contribute to the world of tomorrow. It is a place where future generations come together and where change is born, a space where the common goods of humanity are cultivated (natural, cultural and technological commons), a crossroads of intelligence (personal, collective, artificial intelligence), and a place where one can imagine new models of participative governance.
Faced with the environmental, societal, cognitive, social, technological polycris that faces us, a large -scale transition is necessary, and the university, if it knows how to transform itself, seems to be the only organization that can act as a “future builder”. Indeed, it alone has knowledge in all disciplines, links generations, sectors and communities, it is anchored locally, connected overall, and is driven by the general interest.
Interdisciplinary, intergenerational, intercultural, socio-ecological: the university has the ability to take on a role of weave of links, at the origin of learning and innovation ecosystems capable of repairing, regenerating and regenerating social fabric and planetary commons.
This role of weaver supports the new mission of the university: that of facilitating the transition. This mission – transnational and planetary – integrates and revitalizes the original functions of the university: education, research and societal development. It guarantees that universities around the world take hold of the urgent task of leading humanity to sustainable, equitable and peaceful future.
The university must first reinvent itself from the inside
Universities cannot serve as transition laboratories if they do not themselves enter transition. They must first do research to reinvent their own structures, be able to evolve at the arrival of each new student generation, and think not only the national scale but also the global scale, with, at the heart of their strategy, the well-being of the planet. But above all they must embody the ethics of the future, an ethics based on compassion and solidarity.
Many examples already exist around the world: historical universities like Oxford University, develop fundamental programs on future and global issues. Other universities such as Arizona State University integrate sustainability, innovation and interdisciplinarity at the heart of their curriculum, while Utrecht and Aalto entrepreneurial universities focus on the management of ecosystems, sustainability and regenerative design.
Finally, ecversities like Universidad de Medio Ambiente (UMA) or UCI adopt regenerative approaches for local and global communities, and institutions such as Learning Planet Institute, in partnership with the University of the United Nations and UNESCO, are based on the need to co-construct the future with young generations and principles of collective intelligence and open source collaboration.
Each university, whatever its size, its region, its place in the “Best in the World” type classifications, can make a change of mission in depth to become “Best for the World”, best for the world.
It is a historical opportunity, including all players in the global university system can seize.
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
