Delivering Learning Across A Lifetime: Higher Education’s New Paradigm

Higher education is no longer a single engagement in an individual’s life, or a stop-off point between high school and a career.

Today, and into the future, higher education’s role is ongoing as the demands of the future labor market will require individuals to continuously up-skill and re-skill to remain relevant. As such, while the traditional two- or four-year postsecondary model will continue to play an important role, colleges and universities must expand their repertoire to consciously deliver learning across individuals’ lifetimes.

Read on to learn how the 100 Year Life is changing the fundamental learning needs of individuals across the labor market, and to understand how postsecondary institutions can evolve to fulfil their missions within this new paradigm.

1

What Is The 60 Year Curriculum?

The 60 Year Curriculum: Developing New Educational Models to Serve the Agile Labor Market

While many individual institutions have been developing models to serve their specific communities over the long term, it’s critical to come up with a broader approach that ensures all individuals can gain access to reskilling opportunities over the course of their lifetimes.

2

Impact of the Evolved Lifelong Learning Model on Institutional Operations

Redefining Norms Critical to Sustained Relevance in the Changing Postsecondary Environment

Sticking to the status quo will end in disaster for most postsecondary institutions. To stay relevant, institutions have to rethink all aspects of the higher education product, from programming to student support to organizational models.

Stackable Credentials: Defining Their Value

Stackable credentials have the capacity to transform student pathways to degrees and employability—fundamentally shaking up the core of traditional higher education—but only if their quality aligns with their promise.

Student-Centeredness and Continuing Education: An Imperative

The effectiveness of learning outcomes, one of the linchpins of student success and a definer of student centricity, is becoming increasingly reliant on the strength of an institution’s continuing education offerings.

Addressing the Increasing Need for Non-Credit Programming: The University and True Lifelong Education

Non-credit offerings are increasingly important to individuals’ success in the labor market, but colleges and universities need to work more intentionally to create this wider array of access points.

3

Building Lifelong Learning Into Institutional Operations

Preparing a Traditional University for the 60-Year Curriculum

Even universities that have historically focused on serving traditional audiences need to adapt programming and service structures to expand their reach and serve learners across their full lifecycle.

Lifelong Learning For The 100-Year Life

Longer lives and changing work conditions necessitate universities to think outside the box for how they can serve learners across a much longer and more flexible timeframe.

Inside College-Employer Partnerships: The Importance of Trust

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Two leaders—one from a college, the other from an industry association—explain what it took to make their partnership work and create programming that provides a fast track to stable employment, responds to market trends and grows with learners’ careers.

Open Loop Education: Codifying the Lifelong Learning Partnership Between Students and Institutions

As the nature of higher education evolves alongside the demands of students and their expectations of institutions, it’s critical to shift to a postsecondary model that champions and supports lifelong learning.

4

Building the Infrastructure for Learning Across a Lifetime

Building a Platform for Future Growth at Two Year Community Colleges

By prioritizing and resourcing what matters, two-year colleges can implement high-quality technology infrastructures that allow them to deliver the experience their students expect while simultaneously positioning themselves for long-term growth that capitalizes on future trends.

Boosting Non-Credit Revenues by Consolidating Non-Credit Administration

Institutions can take massive steps towards growing their non-credit revenue by shifting towards centralized administration systems that allow unit staff to focus on differentiating aspects of their business, rather than on repeatable administrative tasks.

Mapping Higher Ed’s Digital Transformations

To stay relevant, higher education needs to adapt to the shift towards digital transformation and a lifelong learning model.

Additional
Resources
Applying Student Lifecycle Management Fundamentals to Higher Education
If we accept that higher education is no longer a single engagement in an individual's lifetime, then we must accept there's a new student lifecycle. But what are its stages?

Student Lifecycle Management and the Learner Experience
Delivering lifelong learning in the 60-Year Curriculum environment requires operational shifts designed to allow staff, faculty and the institution to consciously serve students across multiple life stages.

Setting Up Your Non-Traditional Division for Success
A modern academic tech stack, one consciously designed to serve the modern student lifecycle, is essential to executing on the 60-Year Curriculum. It's time to learn what that system is and how it works.