On the surface, universities are a nice idea. You go in, pick a subject you like, learn from the experts, and leave being job- and future-ready. This is why so many people (around 40% in rich countries) decide to go to college, even if it means making big financial and personal sacrifices. Yet just because so many people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good thing to do. In fact, while there is generally a cost – in terms of employment prospect – of not having a college degree, there are not always clear competitive advantages in having one, particularly if almost half of the population has one. The reality in today’s digital-first world is that we need to teach every generation how to learn, unlearn, and relearn — quickly — so they can transform the future of work, rather than be transformed by it.
If you’re reading this, our guess is that you are more likely to have a university degree than not, and we are sure you have very fond memories of your years in college. We also suspect that you have first-hand experience of some of the challenges graduates face when they enter the labor market, and the frustrations employers express when dealing with them (e.g., finding the right people, managing them and their expectations, and developing their skills).