The Future Of Jobs And Education

The Future Of Jobs And
Education

© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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We are seeing a massive transformation taking place in the jobs market and in the field
of education. Digitization and automation are challenging many traditional jobs as well
as ways we learn. Here, we explore what that means in a conversation with Coursera
CEO Jeff Maggioncalda.
The Future Of Jobs And Education

The world of work has been changing for some time, with an end to the idea of jobs for
life and the onset of the gig economy. But just as in every other field where digital
transformation is ongoing, the events of 2020 have accelerated the pace of this change
dramatically.
The International Labor Organization has estimated that almost 300 million jobs are at risk
due to the coronavirus pandemic. Of those that are lost, almost 40% will not come back.
According to research by the University of Chicago, they will be replaced by automation to
get work done more safely and efficiently. Particularly at risk are so-called "frontline" jobs
– customer service, cashiers, retail assistant, and public transport being just a few
examples. But no occupation or profession is entirely future proof. Thanks to artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), even tasks previously reserved for highly
trained doctors and lawyers – diagnosing illness from medical images, or reviewing legal
case history, for example – can now be carried out by machines.

At the same time, the World Economic Forum, in its 2020 Future of Jobs report, finds that
94% of companies in the UK will accelerate the digitization of their operations as a result
of the pandemic, and 91% are saying they will provide more flexibility around home or
remote working.
If you're in education or training now, this creates a dilemma. Forget the old-fashioned
concept of a "job for life," which we all know is dead – but will the skills you're learning
now even still be relevant by the time you graduate?
One thing that's sure is that we're moving into an era where education is life-long. With
today's speed of change, there are fewer and fewer careers where you can expect the
knowledge you pick up in school or university to see you through to retirement.
All of this has created a perfect environment for online learning to boom. Rather than
moving to a new city and dedicating several years to studying for a degree, it's becoming
increasingly common to simply log in from home and fit education around existing work
and family responsibilities.

If you're in education or training now, this creates a dilemma. Forget the old-fashioned
concept of a "job for life," which we all know is dead – but will the skills you're learning
now even still be relevant by the time you graduate?
One thing that's sure is that we're moving into an era where education is life-long. With
today's speed of change, there are fewer and fewer careers where you can expect the
knowledge you pick up in school or university to see you through to retirement.
All of this has created a perfect environment for online learning to boom. Rather than
moving to a new city and dedicating several years to studying for a degree, it's becoming
increasingly common to simply log in from home and fit education around existing work
and family responsibilities.
This fits with the vision of Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of online learning platform Coursera.
Coursera was launched in 2012 by a group of Stanford professors interested in using the
internet to widen access to world-class educational content. Today, 76 million learners
have taken 4,500 different courses from 150 universities, and the company is at the
forefront of the wave of transformation spreading through education.

"The point I focus on," he told me during our recent conversation, "is that the people who
have the jobs that are going to be automated do not currently have the skills to get the
new jobs that are going to be created.“
Without intervention, this could lead to an "everyone loses" scenario, where high levels of
unemployment coincide with large numbers of vacancies going unfilled because
businesses can't find people with the necessary skills.
The answer here is a rethink of education from the ground up, Maggioncalda says, and it's
an opinion that is widely shared. Another WEF statistic tells us 66% of employers say they
are accelerating programs for upskilling employees to work with new technology and
data.
Models of education will change, too, as the needs of industry change. Coursera is
preparing for this by creating new classes of qualification such as its Entry-Level
Professional Certificates. Often provided directly by big employers, including Google and
Facebook, these impart a grounding in the fundamentals needed to take on an entry-level
position in a technical career, with the expectation that the student would go on to
continue their education to degree level while working, through online courses, or
accelerated on-campus semesters.

"The future of education is going to be much more flexible, modular, and online. Because
people will not quit their job to go back to campus for two or three years to get a degree,
they can't afford to be out of the workplace that long and move their families. There's
going to be much more flexible, bite-sized modular certificate programs that add up to
degrees, and it's something people will experience over the course of their working
careers," says Maggioncalda.
All of this ties nicely with the growing requirements that industry has for workers that are
able to continuously reskill and upskill to keep pace with technological change. It could
lead to an end of the traditional model where our status as students expires as we pass
into adulthood and employment.
Rather than simply graduating and waving goodbye to their colleges as they throw their
mortarboards skywards, students could end up with life-long relationships with their
preferred providers of education, paying a subscription to remain enrolled and able to
continue their learning indefinitely.
"Because why wouldn't the university want to be your lifelong learning partner?"
Maggioncalda says.

"As the world changes, you have a community that you're familiar with, and you can
continue to go back and learn – and your degree is kind of never really done – you're
getting micro-credentials and rounding out your portfolio. This creates a great
opportunity for higher education.“
Personally, I feel that this all points to an exciting future where barriers to education are
broken down, and people are no longer blocked from studying by the fact they also need
to hold down a job, or simply because they can't afford to move away to start a university
course.
With remote working increasingly common, factors such as where we happen to grow up,
or where we want to settle and raise families, will no longer limit our aspirations for
careers and education. This could lead to a "democratization of education," with lower
costs to the learner as employers willingly pick up the tab for those who show they can
continually improve their skillsets.
As the world changes, education changes too. Austere school rooms and ivory-tower
academia are relics of the last century.

You can watch my conversation with Jeff Maggioncalda in full, where among other topics,
we also cover the impact of COVID-19 on building corporate cultures and the implications
of the increasingly globalized, remote workforce.

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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The Future Of Jobs And Education

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