Six top trends in education
Learning with mobility.
Learning anyplace and anytime is the new buzz phrase at Boston, inspired by the needs of employed learners as well as learners with geographical mobility concerns. Online learning saves time – which can be used more productively, in the home or in the workplace, – by reducing daily travel. It also saves travel costs. It also allows learners to learn at their own pace.
Technology-based training.
Learning when you are in control of the lecturer. This means that you stop and start as you process new concepts. It gives you time to properly understand the concepts, preventing huge gaps in skills and knowledge that can occur when a lecturer moves on before the whole class has understood. The importance of this control should not be underestimated, and this control is what has improved the academic success of Boston graduates.
Institutions maintaining a relationship with corporate and industry.
“There is rising crescendo about whether the education curriculum has been reformed enough to make graduates employable. Purely academic qualification is no longer particularly relevant to someone who, for instance, wants to become an entrepreneur”. (IAfrica.com). Boston continually liaises with industry to make sure graduates meet skills demands, and react positively to feedback from companies by way of adapting curriculums where necessary. WIL (Workplace learning) is a module included in qualifications where earners have to seek and perform specified duties in a workplace giving them real-time workplace experience.
Opening the pathways for private providers.
It has been established and played out on a public platform that public universities simply cannot meet the educational demands of industry or of the learners. Private universities such as Boston adapt teaching methodology, curriculum and fee payments and even day-to-day personal contact to ensure their learners’ needs are met. They, therefore, have a vastly higher throughput rate.
The concept of Life-long learning used to apply to IT. It now applies to every industry and every profession.
An ever-changing economy and diverse workplace, both culturally as well as skills-based creates the need for people to continually upgrade their skills in order to improve promotion potential as well as to simply remain relevant in the workplace.
Employers are in the position to demand greater competence
Universities have to include soft skills such as time management as well as excellent ICT skills, no matter the trade or profession. Learners must broaden their skills base, and if the skills are not included in their qualifications they must seek them elsewhere as add ons such as through Boston Connect. Vocational skills are increasingly being valued over and above theoretical qualifications.
