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WiSe 16/17: What's Going on in Higher Education? The Self-Isolation of European Universities

Klaus Segbers

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In global times, characterized by an unprecedented acceleration of social economic and cultural patters and trends, education is undergoing structural changes as well - though surprisingly slowly, at least in Europe. While labor markets are getting more and more flexible, information technologies are spreading quickly and affecting all spheres of life, demographics are changing the composition of societies to the detriment of younger generations, and cultural patterns and habits are getting ever more short-term, education, especially social sciences tertiary education seems to be remarkably resilient. At the same time, it has become unclear what we want or have to teach students today; how we can prepare them for jobs and requirements that are still unknown while they are at schools and universities; how to cope with shrinking expiration dates of information (and decreasing attention spans of students as well); how to react to lifelong learning requirements and expectations; and how to move away from teaching facts to offering transferable and soft skills. Processes of trans-nationalization endanger classical national education contexts and standards. Options for life-long learning have to be designed and marketized. The U.S. wave of MOOCs is just one solution, if one at all. New forms of blended learning are emerging. Traditional organizations, like universities, have to increasingly compete with new players on education markets like publishers and media companies. So what do we have to face in the next ten or so years in terms of "human capital" development? How will criteria like "excellence" be (re)defined? How can learning periods be reconciled with job requirements, and private life needs? How is the interaction between teachers and students changing? In this course, we will identify the basic causal factors and triggers for changing educational patterns. We will try to figure out differences between various clusters of sciences, like humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. And also between different societies - particularly in Western and Eastern Europe, and in China and the U.S. Good English language capabilities are necessary as the seminar is presented in English. This lecture uses the E-learning platform Blackboard. Please register under: http://lms.fu-berlin.de . The password will be given during the first lecture. Additionally, please also register under http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/politik/anmeldungsformular/index.html . close

16 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Thu, 10:00 - 12:00 16 Class schedule

Thu, 2016-10-20 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Segbers