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Are you studying for the future (or the past)?

Today's students have very different education requirements to those of the past. Previously, education was commonly based upon the concept that "there is an established body of knowledge and skills", and that to learn that knowledge and skill base would set a person in good stead for their working life.

The problem, however, is that knowledge is changing - and increasing - at a dramatic rate; and as a result, skills required to perform tasks are also rapidly changing. In the past, and unfortunately for most institutions even today, it may take years to go through the process of conceiving and developing courses before delivering them. Students can take years to complete a certificate and even longer for a diploma or degree. This can mean that upon graduating, the student enters the workforce with an education more suited to conditions a decade or more earlier.

Another factor in today's world is that the barriers that protected a workforce in one country from that of another are rapidly being broken down by globalisation. Colleges and universities are exporting education services at an ever-increasing rate. Those institutions that are flexible and can quickly address the changing conditions will succeed in the world of the future. The colleges, universities and education systems that do not, will shrink, and perhaps even disappear.

Today's education must concentrate more than ever on building foundation skills and knowledge, as well as developing the student's ability to adapt and to be innovative. Above all, it must help the student to develop an understanding of the changing world, and an attitude that encourages the graduate to keep up to date.

The successful course of the 21st century is one that leaves the graduate with an enthusiastic and optimistic attitude to their industry, a thirst for further learning (formal or informal) and the underpinning knowledge to be able to absorb and apply new techniques and knowledge as it emerges. Does this describe the graduates from the Institution you plan to study with? If not, you may be wasting your time.

John Mason
Australian Correspondence Schools
john@acs.edu.au
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