As we confront the grand societal challenges of our time, universities and other higher education institutions can contribute to driving meaningful solutions. The Future ofHigher Education Roundtable at the 52^nd St. Gallen Symposium explored new ways of teaching, learning, and researching to help accelerate change.

With its theme of “A New Generational Contract”, the 52^nd St. Gallen Symposium in May 2023 explored ways to advance long-term, future transformations while dealing with multiple, overlapping crises in the present. In this context, a cross-generational Roundtable on the Future Purpose of Higher Education brought together educators, university presidents, students, and edtech entrepreneurs. From embracing interdisciplinary education to rethinking research and the role of technology, they explored essential steps universities can take to continuously create value in light of evolving challenges.

Discussions focused specifically around three themes: university’s role in addressing grand societal challenges, preparing students for a technology-driven future, and navigating the risks and opportunities of private sector collaboration.

Addressing Grand Societal Challenges

Involving diverse stakeholders – and students in particular: To address the complexity of societal challenges, it is necessary, according to the Roundtable participants, to involve diverse stakeholders with varied backgrounds and expertise in shaping curricula, research questions, and teaching methods.This especially means to involve students as members of the next generation far more in questions of universities’ institutional development. “Very often I find myself speaking at conferences and the youngest person in the room is 35 or 40,” one participant pointed out. The Roundtable participants agreed that universities could very well use the knowledge, passion, and capacity of their students to better make sense of the role of research and teaching in addressing societies’ grand challenges.

Enabling interdisciplinary education: To enable students to effectively engage in solving today’s interconnected challenges, the significance of interdisciplinary education was emphasised again and again. As many of such challenges – such as the climate crisis, epidemics, and inequalities – do not fit neatly into the confines of a single academic discipline, universities should empower learners to think critically and approach issues holistically. This would also mean that courses are designed more from a learner’s perspective, and less based on faculty interests and divisions. In addition, learning would centre around real-world cases and enable students to turn knowledge into innovation and entrepreneurship.

Preparing Students for a Technology-Driven Future

Critically incorporating – and not prohibiting – new technologies in teaching: New technologies such as ChatGPT fundamentally question established ways of learning and testing skills in universities, as well as the education field more broadly. As one participant noted, “if used incorrectly, [ChatGPT] can undermine learning and give students a means not to learn at all”. But instead of prohibiting students’ usage of new technologies such as ChatGPT, curricula should enable students to combine their own creativity with the capabilities provided by technology, but also incorporate critical reflections about what this technology means for societies more broadly and where its limitations are. Besides, participants called for a reflection on what is inherently human that technology cannot provide and consequently focus university’s teaching more on such creative, inter-personal skills.

Enhancing peer-to-peer learning: One method that can help cultivate such skills is collaborative, peer-to-peer learning at university, fostering joint projects and discussions among students. This, it was argued by a renowned educator, “needs teachers that are ready to give up their front-row teaching styles”. Yet, as one Roundtable participant noted, “you are not able to introduce peer-to-peer learning top-down, but you can create a setting where teachers can try it out.” What this ultimately necessitates is the availability of continuous, life-long learning opportunities for university educators themselves to concurrently update their teaching methods.

Risks and Opportunities of Collaborations with the Private Sector

Navigating independence and collaboration: Universities serve as spaces for free research and as educators of critical thinkers. Therefore, maintaining universities’ independence in research and teaching was considered paramount to remain a trusted authority, and the cornerstone upon which any collaboration with the private sector should rest. At the same time, the benefits of diverse collaborative models were seen as equally clear, including additional funding opportunities, hands-on learning experiences for students, and insights from practice that can inform better, more relevant research questions and learning methodologies. Navigating this balance between independence and mutual was hence considered key, through models which create value for universities, students, and companies alike, while safeguarding the autonomy of research and teaching.

Educating critical and accountable future employees: Besides, participants emphasised that the private sector directly benefits from university’s independence in yet another way: through the critically thinking, accountable, and self-reflected students such environments help grow. As companies are increasingly challenged to define and live up to their broader societal and ecological purpose and responsibility, students with such qualities were seen as “the best possible employees” for businesses seeking to thrive in this new environment. Helping cultivate the next generation of corporate decision-makers in this way was thus seen as an additional pathway through which universities may help address society’s grand challenges.

From left to right: Last row: David Wagner, Prof. Xue Lan, Prof. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, Uliana Polyakova, Patrick Awuah, Philippe Narval, Salman Amin Khan, Esther Wojcicki, Prof. Jean-François Manzoni; Standing: Wyatt Bruton, Mingqi Xie; Second row: Selina Lorenz, Benedict Kurz, Devi Sahny, Prof. Naomi Häfner, Prof. Manuel Ammann, Sara Filipcic; First row: Martin Waldhäusl, Prof. Miriam Meckel, Anna Laura Schmidt, Prof. Angela Owusu-Ansah

We are grateful for all participants of the Roundtable for sharing their expertise
and insights. For the preparation, execution, and post-processing of this Roundtable, we
would like to thank Prof. Naomi Häfner, David Wagner, Selina Lorenz, Uliana Polyakova,
Prof. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, Philippe Narval, Prof. Jean-François Manzoni, and Greta
Schauss.