Welcome and Opening Keynote: Does the University have a Future?
In short, the answer is yes. But probably not in the form it takes today. The University will change its mission to emphasize “knowledge in place,” and its importance for creative place-making and economic development. It will become the principal site for the interface between human and artificial intelligence. It will shift its mission to concentrate on “making the future.” Given that the half-life of knowledge in the knowledge economy is ever-shrinking, there will no longer be “alumni;” rather, a student will be continually engaged with an institution to serve their unremitting need for knowledge acquisition. Because knowledge is playing a greater geostrategic role, the university will be a critical stakeholder in the global security system. The University is dealing with many significant challenges at the moment, from questions about its value proposition, to whether it adequately prepares the workforce, to its perceived ideological orientation. This presentation will be a visionary account of what the University can become.