“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
Over the past two decades, an increasing number of universities and students, and aspiring higher education platforms have expanded to its largest responsibility to meet the demands of expertise employers and higher-skilled workers that are changing the global economy. This educational process provides a pathway to social mobility for millions of individuals and impels in the development for the future of universities, students and society.
Previously, the educational academies were established free from the direct control of the church or other religious institutions, a privilege granted by the king or the state. Though, religious studies and clergy training were the main focus in the earliest centers of education, this privilege was allowed for academic freedom to question, research and advance their knowledge. But the evolution of universities replaced these secular institutions as monasteries and slowly started to decline and lost their monopoly on higher education. On the other hand, liberalization and manufacturing industries also experienced a marvelous growth in the global economy. Thus, the development of education on the right lines and more than the basic elementary education became an important agenda for many nations. They understood higher education can serve as the basic factor to sustain development and the unceasing of employment. The revolution brought increasing number of completing the degrees from these universities and expected to increase around the world. Education spreads value, culture, knowledge and above all, it gives people an opportunity for employment.
Recent reports suggests government has also showed interest in making higher education accessible and affordable to their citizens by investing in new fund models developed in various countries and states. Introducing scholarships and bursaries on the basis of primary education accessed quality and eligible students to accommodate in the colleges. This helps to explore the value of higher education and provide social and economic benefit with measured return by taxpayers, and policy makers.
Improvement in Higher Education for Development
Universities and academics are the foundation of education, the initiatives are to promote education and raise the skill level of their youth. It offers learners from all backgrounds with an opportunity to study, progress and harness their talents. They engage in introducing new ways and forms of teaching and learning impact with on-field experiences. The development of higher education is expanding rapidly and it proposes new ways of looking at the era of education. The new trends and disruptive technological demands provide the need for a degree program according to the specialization subject of a choice in the course. When a student belongs to an academic department or a faculty, they are provided with guidance, supervision and numerous resources to support their studies. Whether the students are taking up a taught course or have newly enrolled for a research degree, they are guided and advised by an academic supervisor throughout the course. These graduate programs emphasize learning, creativity, an array of resources for their course work, independent research and scholarship.
The universities offer both matriculated and non-matriculated courses with stand-alone or combined courses. This flexibility allows offering in the form of learning opportunities, to an increasingly diverse range of students or busy professionals who want to expand their knowledge and skills at a postgraduate level without the time commitment of a full course. They empower their students to discover their interests and pursue their passions while studying at the campus or far from it. The dissemination of specialized knowledge is promoting the study of offbeat courses in musical instruments, cooking, home-designing, tea tasting, cartography, puppetry, art restoration, anthropology, etc. These programs are associated with support of each scholarship holder along with their journey and facility job placement. Even, the universities are introducing trial programs where the desirable students can be a part of the newly introduced courses for a short span to understand the value of it. Conferences and events that bring together universities and businesses promoting such courses, enables students to get information and flesh out their professional plans too. Also, the internships at the subsidiaries are offered to the students to give them practical experience and allow them to get to know the company and the functioning.
In recent times, the universities are making a huge difference by offering in-campus student services for their well-being and personal development. Services such as career counseling, campus healthcare, networking training and events, student counselors, language center, gymnasium and study training and workshops are attracting more students and also raising the rank of the university.
The Future of Higher Education is constantly moving to achieve a target
Finding new ways to teach the digital generation with efforts and investment in Technology, making academic curricula more multi-disciplinary, sustainability of student recruitment and retention, bringing down the cost of a college education and ensuring more students graduate are the biggest challenges for tomorrow. Also, the educational leaders are trying to strategize the shift from books, posters, hard copies documents to digital learning. The traditional classroom experience, with technology, enables innovative and creative educational opportunities across campus and around the world, anytime and anywhere. Recent research shows online education is strongly represented in the institutions for long-term and at the same time distance education has been growing at a faster rate from the past years. Technology has impacted almost every aspect of life today, and education is no exception.
