Dive Brief:
- NBA owner Mark Cuban says that finance is one of several industries that will soon fall victim to automation, and students seeking lucrative careers of the future should look to the liberal arts for professional training.
- The tech magnate says that machines will soon replace workers in the processing of data and information, and that professionals who excel in communication, language and innovation will be in high-demand.
- Cuban has long warned against the looming burst of the higher education bubble due to costs and industrial demand.
Dive Insight:
Most leaders in higher education and business understand that the current culture of degrees increasing in price, student debt and growing incompatibility between jobs and skills will not sustain as a business practice for families or for institutions. Governments, systems and individual campuses are working to find ways to unbundle the unnecessary elements of teaching and learning in support of workforce development, while trying to ensure that higher education meets the expectation of shaping a whole person.
Some considerations for leaders could be to shape institutional mission around the culture of the region and its future workforce needs, like the California Community Colleges. These efforts could simultaneously aid in fundraising and corporate partnerships, while helping to restore confidence in the academic enterprise.
