This morning, Google is announcing the next steps in its plan to disrupt the world of education, including the launch of new certificate programs that are designed to help people bridge any skills gap and get qualifications in high-paying, high-growth job fields–with one noteworthy feature:
No college degree necessary.
The new tools could be a game changer for a growing number of people who consider the current educational system broken, or for the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed, much due to fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has led to a truly horrible year,” Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai tellsÂ
Image: Getty. Illustration: Chloe Krammel
This morning, Google is announcing the next steps in its plan to disrupt the world of education, including the launch of new certificate programs that are designed to help people bridge any skills gap and get qualifications in high-paying, high-growth job fields with one noteworthy feature:
No college degree necessary.
The new tools could be a game changer for a growing number of people who consider the current educational system broken, or for the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed, much due to fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to a truly horrible year, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai tells
Higher education is being
dismantled by technology and further taken apart by a global pandemic. How will it be reinvented?
Much of higher education is facing a crisis. Even before the global pandemic, some 30% of our institutions were already facing serious financial difficulties. Over the last few years, declining enrollments, driven largely by demographic changes in the U.S. and rising tuition costs, together with uneven support from federal and state governments, have given rise to an increasingly difficult operating environment. Now, changes wrought by the COVID-19 lockdown, coupled with the near disappearance of international student flows this year–a critical population and revenue source for many institutions–have created existential questions for many colleges and universities.
Predictions for higher education worldwide for 2021
In 2005, my white paper,
Ten Trends in Higher Education, was published and I predicted the following for United States colleges and universities:
• Higher education providers will become more numerous and diverse.
• Part-time college attendance will increase and colleges and universities will offer classes in the evening and at the weekend.
• An increasing number of higher education institutions will work in partnership with employers to meet workforce needs.
• Telecommunications options will become standard practice, with students taking classes at home, on campus, everywhere, all the time.
• Women, minorities and adult learners will dominate future higher education enrolments.