The document discusses the significant changes in higher education (HE) driven by political, social, and environmental issues, highlighting the need for curriculum reforms that address the evolving demands of graduates. It emphasizes the integration of technology and sustainability practices, particularly in Pacific Island nations, and the necessity to accommodate mature students returning to education while working. Key trends identified include online learning, increasing demand for middle-skilled workers, and partnerships with industries to enhance educational outcomes.

1. Changing Trends in
Higher Education
Group: Bruner
Members: Vineet Chandra, Deepak Prasad, Jai Goundar, Sumesh Narayan

2. Introduction
 HE landscape is undergoing a dramatic change. This change
is seen both internationally and in the Pacific region.
 These changes are a direct result of new issues that are
surfacing.
 The changes in HE is driven by :
 Political/National issues
 Value adding to degree/need of graduates in specified profession/
offering of scholarships in a specific field.
 Social issues
 Demand placed on graduates skill set by corporate organizations and
society
 Environmental issues.
 Sustainability and preservation of environment for the future
generation
 Mitigation of global warming and climate change
Contributor: Group

3. Changing Trends in HE
 Some of the issues causing changing trends in HE are
listed below (Staley D. J. and Trinkle D.A.)
 Differentiation of HE
 Transformation of general education
 Mobility of students and staffs
 Rise of invisible colleges
 The changing “Traditional” student
 Pressure to demonstrate value of degree
 Increase in demand of middle skilled workers
 Forming life long partnership with alumni
Contributor: Group

4. Changing Trends in HE
 The group identified other issues which is causing changing trend in HE are listed
below:
 Integration of technology in HE
 Emphasis of sustainability in HE
 Preservation of environment
 Mitigation of global warming and climate change
 Wise use of resources
 Incorporating culture aspects in HE
 Online presence
 Development of online courses
 Globalization and forming collaborative partnership with universities and
industries
 International recognition
 Accreditation of programs
 Accommodating and addressing needs of mature students in HE
Contributor: Group

5. Integration of technology in HE
 Technology is shaping and reshaping the HE
landscape continuously.
 Work environment puts great emphasis on
technologically equipped graduates.
 Technology has given rise to efficiency and
effectiveness.
 HE institutes have to incorporate technology in
their curriculum or else their graduates will be
at a great disadvantage in the very modern and
competitive world.
Contributor: Deepak

6. Implication of Integration of
technology in my course
 In engineering there is lot of calculations and at
times there are many criteria’s to look at. In
addition to this, some problems are too complex to
solve analytically or experimentally. The only option
is to use numerical methods.
 Engineering firms and industries make use of this
numerical methods (specific software's) to solve
these problems.
 Other reasons for using numerical method are:
 Saves time
 Saves money
 Rapid prototyping
Contributor: Deepak

7. Implication of Integration of
technology in my course
 In order to make my students ready for work
life I have introduced used on ANSYS-CFX which
is a computational fluid dynamics software
(CFD) in my course.
 The software is a very important tool for the
students.
 How to use the software is taught to the
students and later they use it in their projects.
 Project work foster dynamic teamwork and
provides the platform to show their creativity
and ingenuity with mastery of the software.
Contributor: Deepak

8. Sustainability in HE
 Pacific Island Countries are facing challenges in sustainability such as global warming,
climate change issues, ecological, waste management, pollution, labor migration,
subsistence diet, poverty, urbanization, trade, health, human rights and many more.
 In the case of Pacific Island nations, education for sustainable development is embedded
within Pacific cultures, languages and knowledge systems that have helped Pacific
peoples to live sustainably for centuries (Corcoran and Kosby, 2010) .
 Policies for sustainability in HE is developed at regional level, then adapted at country
level in national policy.
 The most important activity is the Pacific Education for Sustainable Development
Framework (Framework) with priorities of formal education and training; community-
based education; and policy and innovation.
 Due to financial constrains faced by many small island countries for national
infrastructure to address national sustainability needs, lead to the setting up of a number
of regional organizations in the Pacific with decrees for specific economic, environment,
and socio-cultural areas of significance. PACE-NET and PACE-SD at USP is an example.
 USP is also focusing on sustainable development through research, this was included in
new strategic plan, the researches are now normally focused on sustainable development
of the country.
Contributor: Sumesh

9. Sustainability in HE
 Despite many challenges, the Pacific region has initiated
sustainability thinking and practice in various scopes,
particularly in the education.
 Pacific Island Countries launched 14 Type II Partnership
Initiatives (Fox, 2014) during the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development. Education-based Capacity Building
by USP and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment
Programme (SPREP) as an example.
 One specific regional contribution has been the UNESCO-
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asia-
Pacific DESD Indicators Project (Ryan et al., 2010)
 Unite academic disciplines and institutions in research
activities aligned to sustainability, for example, at The
University of the South Pacific (USP), there are five main
research areas.
Contributor: Sumesh

10. Sustainability in HE
 Policy and practice emerging in South Pacific Island
Universities. The USP is showing strong leadership in
education for sustainable development and climate change
research.
 Higher education for sustainable development, such as
Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and PhD in Climate Change,
number of renewable energy courses offered
 KOICA project at USP - Renewable Energy assessment in all
USP member countries and establishment of a Data Bank at
USP; Renewable Energy Capacity Building in the USP region;
and Establishment of a 45 kW grid-connected solar PV system
at the USP Laucala lower Campus and development of a
Renewable Energy Training Centre.
Contributor: Sumesh

11. Changing Trend – Online
Presence in HE
 Course material are now easily accessible through platforms
like Moodle which enables the students to access it
whenever and wherever they need. Likewise they can submit
assignments from anywhere.
 Students are sharing their work and are also having access
to open educational resources and other material to enhance
their learning which enables then to improve from the past
work already carried out by someone in the world.
 Students discussion are encouraged through the use of
Moodle discussion forums and blogs.
Contributor: Vineet

12. Impact of Online Presence in my
Course
 In order to provide students with teaching materials which is easily
accessible to them, all my courses have teaching material present
online.
 With the help of easily available internet, students are able to find
related materials which they use to understand a particular theory or
content easily
 Students are also able to access teaching material (notes, lab
manuals) on mobile device (smart phones) which enable them to
refer whenever required.
 However, online presence of all teaching material leads to low
turnout in lectures sometimes.
 Online presence of information related to the subject being taught
enables the student to be prepared what to expect and how to tackle
the subject matter.
 In one of my course, online submissions (via Moodle) enable us to
handle easily around 200 students assignment and lab submission. It
enable us to easily mark the labs and enter their marks online which
they can instantly see.
Contributor: Vineet

13. Changing Trend – Accommodating and
addressing needs of mature students in HE
 Many students prefer to peruse HE while there are working in industries,
most of the times these students are mature aged students, they have
been away from education systems for number of years.
 There is number of reasons for these students pursue there studies while
working, such as:
 Over the years the program structure changes due to changing technology
and requirements of the nation, for example the BeTech (3years) program
has changed to BE (4year), therefore students join to upgrade there
qualification.
 Due to some reasons, many students are not able to complete there HE
and join industries, and prefer to complete later.
 Some students prefer to join the work field with minimum qualification
such as diplomas and prefer to upgrade their qualifications later.
 Therefore the education system must be able to accommodate and
address the needs of these students.
Contributor: Jai

14. Implementation of changes in my course to
accommodate mature students.
 Some of the changes that I adopted to accommodate mature students in my
course are.
 I make all the lecture materials available online so mature students are
excess to this materials.
 At-least one Lab session is scheduled after 5pm, therefore, mature
students gets time to attend this session.
 The workshops and labs are arranged to be opened in weekends,
therefore these students have advantages to complete their projects.
 Future changes that will be implemented in my course are:
 Put the recorded lectures online, so the mature students can access it.
 The students are away from the education systems therefore, they have
little difficulty in solving mathematical based problems, I put questions
and quizzes online for these students to practice in advance and get
familiar with it.
 Develop some online labs, so they can do these labs in their own time.
Contributor: Jai

15. Conclusion
 HE institutes needs to address and incorporate the changes
occurring in the educational landscape into the curriculum
to meet the needs of 21st century.
Contributor: Group

16. Reference
Universities UK. 2012, Futures for Higher Education: Analysing Trends.
Staley D. J. and Trinkle D. A. 2011. The Changing Landscape of Higher
Education, EDUCAUSE REVIEW.
Ryan A., Tilbury D., Corcoran P. B., Abe O. and Nomura K. 2010. Sustainability
in Higher Education in the Asia – Pacific: Developments, Challenges, and
Prospects, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 11
No. 2, pp. 106-119
Corcoran P. B. and Koshy K. C. 2010. The Pacific way: sustainability in higher
education in the South Pacific Island nations, Journal of Sustainability in
Higher Education, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 130-140.
Fox C. 2014. Future directions for comparative education dialogue in the Asia-
Pacific region, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Vol. 34, pp. 212-227.
Contributor: Group