Comparative Education Society of India (CESI)
Research Interest Groups
Higher Education & Economics of Education
Note on the Pre-Conference event (Webinar)
REIMAGINING HIGHER EDUCATION IN A DIGITAL WORLD: PROCESSES & OUTCOMES

 
Technological development has been a remarkable feature of the history of human civilization. Each successive technological advancement starting from the invention of wheel to steam- engine to the printing press has transformed the way we live and work forever. With our growing focus on employment as an integral part of human survival, we started understanding technology in terms of interrelationship between technological development and employment of labour. In our efforts to go deeper into this relationship, we attempted considering technology as given and optimizing labour, possibilities of substitution between labour and technology (capital), labour augmenting or capital augmenting technology to human capital and realizing the potential for endogenous growth. Our understanding of human capital and endogenous growth have enabled nuanced perspectives for the link between human capital and technology and provided impetus to the debates over productivity, employment and technology.
Recent developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and trends in employment lead us to reconsider some of these relationships and debates. There appears a (cost-effective) tendency to substitute labour (at all levels) with robots or AI. On one hand, the discourse of the need for skill development to make the labour force employable gets prominence, and on the other hand we witness the laying off of professionals engaged in the software, IT and other areas of the service sector. While we seek to emphasize on incorporating employability into curriculum, some of the premier professional institutions show signs of struggling with securing placements for their graduates. This tendency of substitution between technology and labour would appear a continuing trend if we consider the technological developments in the past such as the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of ICT in general and computer in particular. What makes the present situation distinct is perhaps the inherent struggles of higher education institutions (HEIs) coupled with the expectation that their social responsibility includes generating employable graduates. The investment good nature of the HE with decreasing public support presents an unprecedented challenge.
With this background, the Research Interest Groups (RIGs) of CESI for Higher Education and Economics of Education wish to take this opportunity to organize webinar on “Reimagining Higher Education in a Digital World”. The webinar will be held in a discussion mode. The discussion will be led by three eminent scholars engaged in studying higher education and application of technology.