Is it Time to Rethink Our Model of Post-Secondary Education? Progressing a Tertiary Education Eco-System

Ellen Hazelkorn gave a Keynote address to the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) Annual Conference in London on 22 May 2022 on the factors informing a tertiary education strategy.

Near universal participation in higher education has been a huge achievement for OECD countries. but as we look towards the future, globalization and geopolitical shifts, an ageing population, the technological and digital revolutions, and strategies for a sustainable green and blue economy will continue to reshape our societies, how and where we live and the world of work.

How will/should these developments impact our model of higher educational provision which has remained relatively unchanged as if it was still a system catering to a small elite?

Attention is increasingly drawn to the other 50% - learners gradually being “left behind” by the current system and/or unable to access the system in any meaningful or sustained way. 

Much more radical thinking is required regarding how we structure, govern, fund, and deliver post-secondary education. This is driving many countries to reframe the policy discussion around tertiary education. But, beyond the headlines what do we mean by a tertiary education system? What do we want to achieve?

The Keynote Address looked at some factors driving the policy shift to tertiary education and identified some elements of a tertiary strategy.  But first, the paper reflected on the concept of systems and raised the idea of a tertiary ecosystem.

See Working Paper: Is it Time to Rethink our Model of Post-Secondary Education? Progressing a Tertiary Education EcoSystem (2023, July). Working Paper 89, Centre for Global Higher Education, Oxford. https://www.researchcghe.org/perch/resources/working-paper-89july-2023.pdf.

See “We need a dynamic new model for post-secondary education" published in University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230620120848977

Link to Webinar: https://www.researchcghe.org/events/cghe-seminar/is-it-time-to-rethink-our-model-of-post-secondary-education-progressing-a-tertiary-education-eco-system/