universities – Impact Lab

future predictions, future report, future scenario, future tech

Watching our Systems Unravel: Why Our Institutions Can’t Keep Pace with Machine-Speed Innovation

January 17, 2026

By Futurist Thomas Frey

We’re witnessing something unprecedented in human history—not just technological disruption, but a fundamental mismatch in operating speeds between the systems that govern us and the systems that are replacing them.

The institutions we depend on—government agencies, universities, healthcare systems, regulatory bodies—were architected for a world where change arrived in decades, not days. That world has vanished. And the collision between old-world infrastructure running at human speed and new-world systems operating at machine speed represents the defining challenge of our era.

Automation, Business, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

The big American robot push

March 7, 2019

In a challenge to the narrative of a declining American advantage in the global tech race, U.S. factories are installing record numbers of robots — and elite universities, endowed with huge new contributions, are adding vast centers to study artificial intelligence.

Why it matters: As we have reported previously, China has a massive global lead in the absolute number of new factory robots, and is pouring large sums into developing AI. But the twin U.S. trendlines — a surge in university research spending and the spike in robots — suggest a still-robust competition to dominate technologies of the future.

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Analysis, Education, Latest Trend

Are universities failing their graduates?

November 13, 2014

“Our universities are failing us.”

By Richard Kirby: Universities are failing their graduates in many ways. My purpose in addressing such topics is not to chastise higher education, which I don’t believe can be reformed, but rather to warn future educational consumers and help more recent graduates improve their odds of career success.

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Education, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Demand for computer science programs is booming at colleges across the U.S.

May 29, 2014

Students work during a computer science class.

People in the tech industry have worked to persuade more young people in the U.S. to become interested in studying computer science for years. It now looks like they’ve finally gotten the message.

Continue reading… “Demand for computer science programs is booming at colleges across the U.S.”

Analysis, Business, Education, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Are universities terrified of MOOCs?

September 26, 2013

The internet has made it possible for people to educate themselves, independently or in groups large and small, on an unprecedented scale.

There hasn’t been much change in universities since the Middle Ages. Universities have the campus with its lecture halls, dormitories, libraries, and laboratories surrounded by leafy quadrangles. They have added giant sports complexes, gyms and swimming pools, and gourmet restaurants, but the basic layout is the same. And the production process hasn’t changed since around 1200. Professors give lectures, students read books and take notes, there are examinations and grades, along with the occasional tutoring session, and a great deal of hanky panky. The professors wear tweed jackets instead of gowns, and the students wear – well, just about anything, including pajamas – but otherwise the university remains one of society’s most conservative institutions.

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Education, Latest Trend, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Only 150 of 3500 colleges in the U.S. are worth the investment

May 13, 2013

Student debt is second largest source of U.S. household debt, after only mortgages.

Some of the greatest colleges and universities in the world are in the U.S. But with the student debt load at more than $1 trillion and youth unemployment elevated, when assessing the value of a college education, that’s only one part of the story.

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Analysis, Business, Education, Internet, Latest Trend

MOOC mania – more action in 1 year than the last 1,000 years

May 1, 2013

MOOCs are a powerful force for good.

Where did all of the MOOC mania come from? It came faster than Facebook and it’s here to stay. In just a year MOOCs emerged from a unique mix of entrepreneurial spirit, a few leading US Universities, supported by not-for-profits and venture capital. It’s an ecosystem that can take an idea and support it through to a sustainable business. That’s impressive.

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Analysis, Education, Internet, Latest Trend

California universities are aggressively expanding online courses

April 16, 2013

The online education movement is transforming physical colleges at a fast pace.

The California State University system is the largest university system in America and they are aggressively expanding its experimental foray into Massive Online Open Learning (MOOCs), based on an unusually promising pilot course. They will offer a special “flipped” version of an electrical engineering course at 11 more universities, where students watch online lectures from Harvard and MIT at home, while class time is devoted to hands-on problem solving. A San Jose State University pilot found that the flipped class increased pass rates a whopping 46%, which university President Mohammad Qayoumi believes is enough to move full-steam ahead.

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Education, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

A dozen big-name universities join Coursera to offer free online classes

July 19, 2012

In the last week, more universities signed on with Coursera.

Free online courses from prestigious universities were a rarity a few months ago. Now, they are the cause for announcements every few weeks, as a field suddenly studded with big-name colleges and competing software platforms evolves with astonishing speed.

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Analysis, Education, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Biggest challenge for colleges isn’t price, it’s students’ attention

June 14, 2012

As colleges try to deliver more education at the same price, schools will move into the crowded and distractable world of the Web.

Last year, the University of Phoenix enlisted renowned Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen to record a lecture. The university reserved a harbor-view room for Christensen and populated it with young people, so that the camera operators could record their reactions.

Before he began to speak, Christensen noticed that the audience appeared unusually engaged and attractive.

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Analysis, Business, Education

Charting a New Frontier for Colleges and Universities

April 19, 2011

Futurist Thomas Frey: The great reset has not yet finished its resetting process, and colleges are moving quickly into the crosshairs, with government funding, grants, and student loans all harder to get.

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Education, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

10% Increase in Computer Science Enrollments

April 13, 2011

There is a jump in the number of computer science enrollments.

Computer science enrollments have increased for the third year. This ends the decline in enrollments that followed the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000-2001. But it could be years before enrollments reach the high of the dot-com booms.

Continue reading… “10% Increase in Computer Science Enrollments”