Two days ago, Business Week published an article featuring insightful commentary by Professor Dan Remenyi, Co-Editor and contributor to the newly released book The University of the Future. While the article offers thought-provoking perspectives, it also raises several questions and leaves me with some doubts.
First, we should reflect on the perspective of Australia’s Chief Scientist, who argued that producing job-ready graduates “isn’t universities’ job.” Additionally, consider John Maynard Keynes’ famous 1930 prediction that by 2030, people might only need to work 15 hours a week. However, Keynes could not have anticipated the transformative impact of AI: "...commonly available AI technologies will give each of us access to the equivalent of 100 human experts...to provide all the information and advice you need." https://sciencebusiness.net/viewpoint/viewpoint-why-productivity-going-down-when-technology-accelerating
In this context, the traditional role of universities in producing experts, which has been central to their mission, faces significant challenges. The future does not look promising in this regard, particularly as corporations increasingly recruit students directly, bypassing universities altogether.
Moreover, the landscape of research is shifting. Currently, just 200 companies account for 40% of global research output. This suggests that while research remains important for universities, it may no longer be their core focus. Instead, universities could play a critical role in curating and validating corporate research.
This shift is crucial, as trusting corporate research can be problematic, especially when financial stakes are high and negative findings could threaten a company's survival. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/monsanto-papers-reveal-company-covered-up-cancer-concerns-a-1174233.html
PS - In my
view, there is really only one thing academics can do that corporations cannot
(and will not): speaking the truth to power
and exposing lies ttps://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-responsibility-of-intellectuals-to.html Like have
done Dan Carder of West
Virginia University and civil engineer Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech and much more recently also
the 72 years old physicist Ricardo
Galvão who stood up against Bolsonaro brainless rants, an act that
granted him the selection to be one of Nature´s
10 people who mattered in science in 2019
