Without regular updates, the value of postgraduate and undergraduate education declines as knowledge creation increases, writes Dr Roger Collins
Increasing knowledge is a double-edged
sword. While not all this knowledge has
immediate or even eventual utility, this
accelerating trend represents opportunity
and threat. Knowledge informs progress.
But it can seriously undermine the efficacy of
our management practices and priorities, threaten
the relevance and effectiveness of many occupa
tional groups and depreciate the value of many
academic credentials.
The half life of an MBA is six years. So with
out regular updates, the value of postgraduate
and undergraduate education declines as knowl
edge creation increases.
Universities – leading contributors to and
potential beneficiaries of knowledge creation –
are caught in a time warp in terms of how they
distribute knowledge and the development of
related skills. There are at least three things that
support this contention.
First, as already argued, new knowledge is
creating obsolescence for students who fail to
keep current in their field. Second, unless grad
uates apply their newfound knowledge and skills
soon after graduation, they are at risk of losing
these assets. And third, the traditional structure,
length and delivery channels of postgraduate pro
grams are proving less appropriate for students
who have demanding jobs and full personal lives.
So what might two options that could shape
the future of postgraduate study be?
First, an increasing number of managers and
professionals are recognising the benefits of cher
rypicking their learning opportunities. By select
ing short learning programs at times that are
convenient to their professional life and that are
related directly to their needs, they are cus
tomising and modularising their learning in ways
that are less disruptive and of greater value.
A short program in strategy or marketing, a
program online – or in Shanghai – that widens
their networks, selecting an educational institu
tion for its area of recognised expertise, or under
taking an intra-company program that integrates
learning with immediate applications are more
attractive options than two or three years of a
broad-based program and disruptive attendance
requirements.
A second option could be created if univer
sities migrated from postgraduate education to
career-long learning. This would require the inte
gration of graduate and continuing education
programs and the shift from the current trans
action to a relationship mentality. Universities
would have to modularise learning content, offer
multiple distribution channels such as face to
face, podcasts, online learning, and recognition
of workplace-based learning.
It would enable them to move from a one-off
lump-sum fee for a postgraduate degree to an
annual service fee. Universities could then enlist
enlightened organisations to pay for keeping their
people current and relevant as part of their remu
neration package with the benefits of recogni
tion, development and retention.
In sum, universities represent some of the
oldest and most conservative forms of organi
sation in our society. Many advocate the value
of research-based knowledge and renewal – yet
have failed to evolve their own offerings to
meet the needs of their stakeholders, to lever
age their research and new technology, and to
create national, regional and global networks
for the development of learning content and
delivery.
Under these circumstances, other organisa
tions will invariably rise up to fill this void. And
they already are.
Roger Collins is Professor Emeritus of the University of NSW,
Chairman of national accounting firm Grant Thornton and a
member of HR Leader’s editorial board
