Universities Reinvented: Shaping Legacy and Impact for a New World
In this three-part lecture series, President of Singapore Management University and 15th S R Nathan Fellow Professor Lily Kong will reflect on the idea of the university and how it has evolved over time. She will examine the public value of universities, and the potential and reality of their contributions to societal development. In the first lecture entitled “Through the Looking Glass: Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Universities”, she illustrates how, throughout history, the university has reflected changing societal contexts. The contemporary university is no different — a condition of our post-industrial, post-truth world. In the second lecture entitled “At the Crossroads: Universities for the 100-Year Life”, Prof Kong examines what a university stands for if humanity contemplates and confronts the very real possibility of a 100-year life. The relevance of the university will of necessity extend beyond the narrow slice of three to four years in the first of four quartiles in human life. In her third lecture, she invites discussion about the responsibility of universities — as brain trust — to the world beyond its walls. Entitled “Beyond the Ivory Tower: Research and the Dilemmas of Quality and Relevance”, she addresses questions of misinformation, manipulation, and misconduct in research, but also, more optimistically, research that is creative, catalytic, and consequential.
At the Crossroads: Universities for the 100-Year Life
In this lecture, Professor Lily Kong highlights four dimensions of contemporary university education as candidates for disruptive thinking. First, how are universities developing individuals in dimensions beyond the cognitive, which has been the traditional purview in higher education? Second, how might universities think about depth in learning beyond the disciplinary, especially given how disciplines are human creations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries rather than some “natural” given? Third, how might universities acknowledge and embrace the fact that learning takes place not only in the world of academia, but also in the world of practice, in the world of play, and in the social world — and how should universities take into account the fact that all learning continues throughout life beyond the traditional ages of 18 to 25? Fourth, in the age of big data and generative AI, how might universities help young people to accentuate their human-ness and manage their human vulnerabilities? These questions are urgent at this historical juncture for a variety of reasons, not least because of longer lifespans, lower fertility rates and ageing populations in many parts of the world. This demographic transition requires different kinds of human preparedness to enable meaningful lives and worthwhile contributions from each individual over longer periods.
To find out more about Professor Lily Kong, the 15th S R Nathan Fellow, click here.
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