Exploring the Future to Create Pathway Opportunities That Empower Students

Abstract

The future is more uncertain than ever, and this uncertainty is creating challenges for institutions of higher education (IHE), especially as they seek to prepare students for the future. Students are seeking new models of education, and some are even putting together their own pathways to survive and thrive in this uncertain future. While it is not possible to predict the future, this chapter demonstrates how strategic foresight can help IHEs better position themselves to develop new models of learning to meet learner and societal needs. The chapter employs the Association of Professional Futurists Foresight Technical Competencies to demonstrate how this can be done. It also provides examples of IHEs that are beginning to build the capacity to employ strategic foresight across their institutions and others that have already done so.