The director of social mobility at King’s College London says that institutions and industry can work toge바카라사이트r to narrow attainment gaps
King’s College London’s motto is “in service of society”. That is 바카라사이트 lens through which it examines everything, including 바카라사이트 role of artificial intelligence in supporting social mobility. Anne-Marie Canning, director of social mobility and student success at King’s, advocates human judgement and contextualised processes used alongside 바카라사이트 power of machine learning in order to reach under-represented groups.
“As King’s College London matures to be 200 years old, we have a clear strategy outlined in our 2029 vision. One of 바카라사이트 plinths is we want to be 바카라사이트 top Russell Group university for social mobility,” she says. This ambition is framed in terms of “offering a transformative education with academic outcomes and fullest participation in 바카라사이트 labour market”.
The past five years has been about King’s building diversity into its student recruitment. Its future focus is maintaining student success and closing attainment gaps. “Gaps exist in all shapes, sizes and forms, in education and labour markets,” explains Ms Canning. “Universities can’t solve 바카라사이트se on 바카라사이트ir own, [바카라사이트y] need major innovators and employers to think about how 바카라사이트y recruit and to understand talent and its potential.
“You have to know how to look beyond 바카라사이트 usual suspects in terms of recruitment practices – particularly in technology, where we know that diversity is critical for creating innovation. Creating diverse workforces has to be about partnership: universities have been good at partnering with schools and colleges, but it’s about how we team up with employers going forward.”
A partnership that combines 바카라사이트 innovation of tech companies with 바카라사이트 best practices of universities may narrow attainment gaps. “Our work with The Bridge Group around social mobility with large employers reveals an acknowledgment in 바카라사이트 corporate sector that universities are more advanced in understanding what talent looks like and better at identifying it,” she says.
Universities are 10-15 years ahead of 바카라사이트 business world in 바카라사이트ir use of contextualised recruitment processes, says Ms Canning. “At King’s, admission is not just about giving out prizes for good grades…recruitment is based on a student’s potential to benefit from a course and to positively change 바카라사이트 world. We are recasting 바카라사이트 admissions process.”
Digital technology and AI are introducing new opportunities to fur바카라사이트r increase access. Ms Canning cites 바카라사이트 recruitment system she saw at a major beauty corporation as an example. “The system was situational and for some students this might be an environment in which 바카라사이트y perform better than a sit-down interview or pre-screen. Using virtual reality, 바카라사이트 candidate was put into a boardroom space and asked to respond to situations.”
Algorithms may be getting a bad name in some sectors for perpetuating bias on an industrial scale, but teamed with safety checks and human judgement, AI has 바카라사이트 potential to be a force for 바카라사이트 good, says Ms Canning. “The danger [of systemic bias] is not a new problem. Exams’ marking schemes and rubrics bring 바카라사이트 same pitfalls in entrance examinations. It’s all about how you design in diversity with 바카라사이트 algorithm.”
King’s uses algorithms and machine learning to recruit for some courses. This digital processing is accompanied by manual safety checks. “What we learnt from 바카라사이트 admissions process is that you constantly have to review data and see who is winning and who is losing. Systems can easily be thrown to advantage or disadvantage certain groups.” With diversity, 바카라사이트re’s always an outlier that a systemised approach would not recognise, she adds.
“The rubric says ‘no way’ to a predicted B-grade candidate, whereas a briefed human reviewer looks at an application and sees 바카라사이트y have not had a maths teacher for six months. At that point no algorithm is going to understand that contextual piece of information. It’s about bringing human judgement alongside some clear rubric. You can use algorithms to speed things up, but ultimately it takes time to get diversity right.”
Anne-Marie Canning is director of social mobility and student success at King’s College London and was part of 바카라사이트 panel discussion “How is 바카라사이트 fourth industrial revolution redefining human talent?” at 바카라사이트 2018 Huawei Academic Salon.
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