It Takes Two to Tango: Higher Education Institutions and the Employers

IAU Horizons, the Association's news and information magazine is addressed primarily to IAU Member Institutions and Organizations, but is also sent to a selected audience beyond the IAU Membership such as Ministries of Higher Education, international organizations, national and regional associations of universities and others.
It Takes Two to Tango: Higher Education Institutions and the Employers (IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1)
By Pam Fredman, IAU Vice-President and Rector University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Tomorrow’s society will be formed by the on-going globalization. There are many definitions of the word globalization, but the one given by Dr Nayef R.F. Al Rodhan and Gérard Stoudman (19 June 2006), “Globalization is a process that encompasses the cause, course, and consequences of translational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities”, is well in line with the topic of the 14th IAU General Conference, in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2012, “Higher Education and the Global Agenda: Alternative Paths to the Future”. Globalization will continue with its positive and negative consequences and the future challenges have to be met with the perspective of a sustainable development of society, encompassing environmental, economic, cultural and social aspects.
It is generally held that the development of tomorrow’s society will require large numbers of knowledgeable and engaged individuals. This need is reflected in an increase of HEIs around the world and national goals concerning HE. The attitude to and the knowledge and recognition of sustainable development perspectives carried by these students will have a great impact on our future society. That HEIs have a crucial role and responsibility in the development of a sustainable society is obvious. New knowledge has to be created and developed through disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary challenges. Global challenges like environmental destruction, economic crises, social exclusion, ageing populations and transmission of diseases all have to be approached from a range of different perspectives. This demands multidisciplinary knowledge and a holistic view that must be transferred to all parts of society through our students, the future workforce and our future leaders... Read more in IAU Horizons Vol. 18, no.3 & Vol.19, no.1.