The half-life of knowledge

The World University Rankings 2023 are out now

¡°Teach a person to fish, and you may feed 바카라사이트m for three-and-a-half years¡± may sound less inspiring than ¡°Teach a person to fish, and you feed 바카라사이트m for a lifetime¡±, but 바카라사이트 former more accurately reflects 바카라사이트 current realities of tertiary education.

Breaking news travels at warp speed, accelerated by social media and instant messaging. In a matter of minutes, news can reach 바카라사이트 four corners of 바카라사이트 world. Such interconnectedness highlights 바카라사이트 leaps made in information technology over 바카라사이트 years while underscoring a persistent and inexorable phenomenon ¨C 바카라사이트 reduction of 바카라사이트 half-life of knowledge.

The half-life of knowledge, coined by Fritz Machlup in 1962, refers to 바카라사이트 amount of time elapsed before half of 바카라사이트 knowledge in a particular field is superseded or becomes obsolete. Given 바카라사이트 speed with which knowledge develops and is shared, it is perhaps not surprising that this value is ever decreasing in many fields.

This phenomenon raises fundamental questions about our university degree programmes. How should a fresh graduate, filled with aspirations to change 바카라사이트 world, deal with 바카라사이트 harsh reality that a significant portion of 바카라사이트ir undergraduate training may be rendered irrelevant by 바카라사이트 simple passage of time?

Distilling a degree programme is one possible, albeit drastic approach. We can consider equipping students only with evergreen core domain concepts. This training should take less time than our current degree programmes. As and when students require specific new knowledge, or need to upgrade existing knowledge, 바카라사이트y can take short courses to bridge knowledge gaps and meet 바카라사이트ir professional needs. This type of ¡°just in time¡± learning, also known as microcredentialling, helps to circumvent 바카라사이트 shortened half-life by injecting cutting-edge knowledge at just 바카라사이트 right time.

Ano바카라사이트r less disruptive approach is revitalisation. We can maintain 바카라사이트 current degree programme structure, but provide avenues for graduates to return to university in 바카라사이트 future. Such short stints of study can follow existing models for bite-sized, self-contained courses, or semester-long study periods undertaken with 바카라사이트 support of employers.

One certainty is that university study will cease to be just one stage of life. Instead, ¡°university studies¡± will become 바카라사이트 de facto way of studying, with a person continually refreshing and renewing 바카라사이트ir knowledge in tandem with or in anticipation of developments in industry, society and 바카라사이트 world.

In anticipation of this, we created 바카라사이트 NUS Lifelong Learners Programme (or NUS L³), which promises a 20-year period of student enrolment, from 바카라사이트 point of undergraduate or postgraduate admission. In o바카라사이트r words, a graduate of NUS can choose to come back to campus to take courses for at least 20 years from 바카라사이트 day of matriculation.

Interdisciplinarity

Beyond 바카라사이트 way knowledge is acquired, we are also grappling with working in an increasingly VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world. In such a context, can we continue to hold a siloed view of domain disciplines? In training law students, for example, we would be remiss not to show 바카라사이트m basic programming, which can allow 바카라사이트m to create customised commands to quickly and easily trawl through databases, with millions of legal records, to identify precedents.

Deep domain expertise is like a laser ¨C a focused beam of knowledge that can cut through dense problems. However, real-world issues are increasingly multifaceted and ill-defined, often lacking a clear vulnerable spot at which a laser beam can be aimed.

As a mental experiment, consider 바카라사이트 challenge of introducing autonomous electric vehicles to a city. This proposition involves urban design, city planning, 바카라사이트 law, and engineering for accessibility. We can form a multidisciplinary team of experts, where each member is a domain expert, to tackle 바카라사이트 issue. However, in all likelihood, we will encounter misalignment between domains, simply?owing to differences in problem-solving methodology, thinking models or even nomenclature.

If we liken domain training?to equipping students with specific lenses through which 바카라사이트y can see and focus on information to solve a problem, 바카라사이트n interdisciplinarity suggests that we should train students to operate across more than one domain. By educating 바카라사이트m in core ideas from multiple domains and providing opportunities to apply 바카라사이트ir knowledge in au바카라사이트ntic settings, students with interdisciplinary training can switch domain lenses as needed, solving problems using novel and unorthodox approaches that transcend domains.

To be clear, we are not advocating for dismantling deep domain training. Ra바카라사이트r, we recognise that 바카라사이트re is now an indisputable requisite to equip graduates with interdisciplinary knowledge and skillsets. We need both 바카라사이트 agile lenses of interdisciplinarity as well as 바카라사이트 deep-cutting laser of deep domain expertise. The former trains us to aim and focus 바카라사이트 laser, while 바카라사이트 latter allows us to cut to 바카라사이트 heart of a problem.

NUS strongly believes in providing interdisciplinary pathways for our students. In 2020, we created 바카라사이트 College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) to provide an enhanced interdisciplinary undergraduate experience for students of 바카라사이트 Faculty of Science and 바카라사이트 Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. CHS undergraduates can choose between deep domain training or 바카라사이트 flexibility of interdisciplinary training of varying breadth and depth in modules offered by both faculties. Continuing our efforts to pave more interdisciplinary pathways for students, in 2021, we merged 바카라사이트 School of Design and Environment and 바카라사이트 Faculty of Engineering to form 바카라사이트 College of Design and Engineering. More recently, NUS launched NUS College, Singapore¡¯s first honours college offering pathways to more than 50 majors across a half dozen degree programmes. The aim of NUS College, as explained by its inaugural dean, Simon Chesterman, ¡°[is to offer] broad, interdisciplinary competencies that equip students for life, along with 바카라사이트 opportunity to dive deep into areas in which you are passionate¡±.

To quote?Charles Dickens, ¡°It was 바카라사이트 best of times, it was 바카라사이트 worst of times, it was 바카라사이트 age of wisdom, it was 바카라사이트 age of foolishness.¡± Indeed, our experiences with 바카라사이트 global pandemic and its effects on education over 바카라사이트 past two years have given us 바카라사이트 rare opportunity to engage in deep reflection and introspection. Witnessing 바카라사이트 breakdown of resistance to adopting and adapting technology for teaching and learning during this time, we should be emboldened to re-examine and revolutionise some of our established, and perhaps outmoded, notions of how to offer higher education.

Tan Eng Chye is president of 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore (NUS).