Background

In a constantly changing world facing declining life expectancy, the existential threat of climate change and the chronic challenge of income inequality and the pandemic, universities are reexamining their role in society and their obligations to their students. For learners who increasingly need agile problem solving and other skills as well as deep disciplinary knowledge to thrive in today’s complex and interdependent world, there is a gap in what universities provide. For government and industry, there is a desire to forge stronger collaboration and partnership with universities and their talented students, staff and faculty.  Whereas experiential and hands-on learning may enable such engagement, for universities, however, experiential learning is very time and resource intensive, difficult to scale, and hard to combine effectively with other forms of doctrinal and disciplinary learning. Providing all students with the opportunity to interact with and engage in authentic real world problem solving in a variety of domains and sectors is core to the future of learning in higher education.

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