Tomorrow’s Universities and the Seven Pillars of the Knowledge Revolution

Abstract

The emerging Knowledge Revolution goes beyond the changing technologies and the challenges and opportunities they create to include the structure of knowledge and how it is transmitted inter-generationally and across countries. There are seven major features of that profound transformation, which I call “The Seven Pillars of the New Knowledge Revolution”. These are: (i) Parsing, Life & Organization; (ii) Image & Text; (iii) Humans & Machines; (iv) Complexity & Chaos; (v) Computation & Research; (vi) Convergence & Transformation; and (vii) Pluridisciplinarity & Policy. This diagnosis has profound implications on how one should think about the design and management of our institutions of learning, starting not only with universities, but also the school system, as well as our research institutions (whether in universities or in public and private labs), and the supporting institutions of knowledge (like museums, libraries and archives). Radical proposals are advanced for the content, method, participants and organizational setting of education, as well as the role of the University as mediator of transitions, its relationship with society and economy, as well as its physical presence, governance structure and the values it should promote. Core functions and curricula for the future, along with the possibility of a global university consortium, are discussed.