“How the industry and academia rise up together to make the right choices and decisions in the next few years will shape the fate of individuals, educators, businesses and even whole economies,” writes Manish Bahl. “Now is the time for both sides to forge collaborative partnerships to successfully tide over the transformative and disruptive impact of the machine age.”

Excerpts from BW Education’s article:

“Learning in today’s digital age has become extremely fast-paced and dynamic. However, there is a widening gap between the industry and the academia in formulating and executing digital skills. While 43% of businesses currently update their learning content on an annual or a biennial basis, 71% of higher educational institutions (HEI) update their curriculum every two to six years.

Today, businesses and HEIs estimate that only about one-quarter of their total staff and students have the skills to work and interact with emerging digital technologies. This figure is expected to more than double — to 62% for companies and 57% for HEIs — in the next five years. Consequently, rapid reskilling will become the new norm.

Preparing the current and future workforce cannot happen in a vacuum anymore. Companies must increase their educational outreach with HEIs, and the academia should, in turn, facilitate comprehensive exposure to latest technologies. The silver lining is that 75% of businesses and HEIs view collaboration as critical to making the ends meet.

Emerging technologies such as AR/VR and AI will supercharge learning by focusing on “how to learn” over “what to learn”. New modes of education delivery will emerge, with Netflix-style, on-demand digital assets allowing for anytime, anywhere self-learning. The adoption of AI-driven self-learning platforms and AR/VR systems is expected to grow by a whopping 220% in in the next five years.

Tomorrow’s learning experience will be more active, interactive and frictionless, and take place in an environment that blurs the boundaries between the traditional classroom and the world outside.”

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