Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) recently hosted education expert Jon Rice as part of the university’s President’s Dialogue Series.
Rice, Associate Director, Research Advisory Services at EAB, sat down with Dr. Diane Purvey, Provost and Vice-President, Academic at KPU, at the Melville Centre for Dialogue at KPU Richmond to discuss emerging issues in higher education.
Each year, EAB hears from approximately 2,800 schools, universities and colleges to discover their biggest challenges and priorities.
“From what we’re hearing, what do we think everyone needs to be addressing? This year we identified six key priorities that are shaping that strategy,” says Rice.
Those six priorities, the audience heard, include public perception of higher education value, enrolment and demographics, sustainable business models, student readiness and well-being, the hybrid campus, and artificial intelligence.
“Let’s compare AI to the telephone. The telephone took 75 years to get 100 million people to use it. Television took 38, the internet took eight, Facebook took five, ChatGPT took two months,” says Rice.
The President’s Dialogue Series is an initiative started by KPU President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Alan Davis. This ongoing series welcomes speakers to KPU who are leaders in the private and public sectors, both locally and globally.