Pathways to 2050 and beyond: Findings from a public consultation on the futures of higher education

• In Event: Educational reform and higher education

Proposal

Background
Public consultation on the Futures of Higher Education was undertaken by UNESCO’s International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) within larger UNESCO’s Futures of Education Initiative. The aim of public consultation is to understand people’s hopes and concerns for the future and learn how these hopes and concerns relate to ideas about the futures of higher education. Public consultation creates a platform for joint thinking about the future in 2050 and beyond, and higher education’s role in it.

Conceptual framework
Participatory learning, as the guiding approach of public consultation, is more democratic and keeps the focus on stakeholders’ views and opinions. By sharing their hopes and concerns, stakeholders enhance their agency in co-creating the future they envision in 2050 and beyond. The study conceptualized participants’ responses to better communicate the main messages to policy makers, institutional leaders and educational researchers around the globe. Four questions of the study immerse participants in the future thinking and further guide them to think of higher education’s role in those futures.

Inquiry
Responses were collected from 25 May to 6 August 2021 via an online survey that was published in four languages: English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish; responses in Chinese were also accepted. Four survey questions:
• When you think about 2050, what are you most hopeful about? 
• When you think about 2050, what are you most concerned about? 
• How would you like higher education to be in 2050? 
• How could higher education contribute to better futures for all in 2050?  
Respondents gave free text responses to open questions about their visions for 2050. Extensive dissemination resulted in total of 1,208 respondents from almost 100 countries. Of valid 1,199 responses 55% were answered in Spanish, 35% in English, 6% in Chinese, 2% in French, and 2% in Portuguese.

Findings
Participants idealized the future but also remained cautious about the challenges we may face in 2050, to which they propose to prepare through more collaboration. Despite the political divisiveness, people jointly identified four categories for those challenges; they were quality of life, social change, care of the environment, and development of technology.
At the same time, according to direct quotes from respondents four pathways to 2050 and beyond were identified: Higher education for all, Centered around students, Organization of knowledge and Higher education’s connections
Acting from the context of time, place and possibility, the participants proposed certain steps that were framed as calls to action to get that future in 2050 and beyond: enhancement of HE’s role within local and global communities by stressing its service to society function, addressing the barriers that limit participation in HE, opening access to knowledge to more people, making HE more relevant for local, national and global needs and finally trying to become futures thinkers to imagine and built the future we want.

Contribution
This large-scale global survey explores the public’s perception of the possible scenarios for the futures of higher education in 2050 and beyond. It is inspiring that public allocates extensive hopes and expectations on higher education for solving future crises. This study also provides practical set of policy implications adaptable to various higher education systems around the globe because of the wide geography of participants.
By conceptualizing the findings from this public consultation, UNESCO IESALC contributes to the UNESCO’s Futures of Education global initiative by focusing specifically on the futures of higher education. Within CIES2022 community, the proposed presentation will further enhance the discussion raised within “Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education” slotted as an upcoming plenary presentation by UNESCO’s International Commission.

Authors

• Emma Sabzalieva, UNESCO

• Dana Abdrasheva, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Eglis Sofía Chacon, UNESCO IESALC

• Luz Jesus Gamarra Caballero, UNESCO IESALC

• Bosen Lily Liu, UNESCO IESALC