For a working life beyond 2065
We have come to a point where we need to create new initiatives within undergraduate education, and increase the number of students admitted to LTH. For six years, we have endured the overproduction in education, that is, we have educated more students than we have been paid for – which is unsustainable in the long term. The demands on us to overcome overproduction have been a wet blanket to initiatives for new study programmes and courses. We may have been too successful, however.
– Publicerad den 15 March 2018
Because of our many long five-year programmes, the situation is not easily controlled. In fact, we are now seeing signs that we are heading for underproduction.
So, we must start doing the opposite: increase our admission of students and create new Master’s programmes rather than cutting back. But which programmes should we expand? And how? Should we focus on meeting the needs of industry or the students’ wishes expressed in terms of programme popularity? There are no easy answers....
We could perhaps make things easy for ourselves by focusing on what is in demand right now; however, this would not be practicable as we educate for a future labour market and our students can expect to have a long working life ahead. As I have said at degree ceremonies, our students’ working life will extend beyond 2065 – what a staggering thought!
Above all, we need to ensure that our programmes are up to date and prepare our students for the labour market ahead. Already, we have entrusted all programme directors with the task of reviewing the learning outcomes and aim of their programmes, to ensure that the students have the skills they need when they graduate.
The external engagement councils we established in collaboration with wider society are an important instrument in this context. In industry, people with “systems understanding” in all areas are in high demand, as are well-educated people from all LTH programmes. Therefore, the management and board of LTH will spend a lot of time this year consulting our crystal ball and deciding which parameters we should use.
Much of the current public debate, in which LTH obviously is to be an important voice, is about digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), including the opportunities and dangers associated with them. At LTH, there is a lot of knowledge gained on the matter, and we must find a clearer way to include this knowledge and these perspectives in our study programmes. As I wrote in a previous blog post, we have to make our students better prepared for the digitised world they will face.
And a lot is happening right now. I have the pleasure of being a board member of WASP – Wallenberg Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Sweden’s single largest research programme ever. The purpose of WASP, in which Lund University is one of several participating universities, is to achieve excellent research and develop skills that benefit Swedish industry in the long term.
WASP is a fantastic and promising initiative! However, the reason for it may seem discouraging: the fact that Swedish research and industry have not advanced as much as they ought to in these areas.
In order for us to maintain a high level of knowledge and innovation in Sweden, it is important that LTH contributes with its research excellence, and that we make sure that major research projects such as WASP make a mark on education as well.
I think it is important that we this year are able to answer the question of how to make major research projects benefit students. The WASP collaboration is very important for LTH’s development in this respect.
Viktor Öwall
Dean of LTH
PS (on dark scenarios concerning artificial intelligence):
The doomsday prophecies regarding AI are coming in thick and fast. Recently, at the South-By-Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, the founder of Tesla, Elon Musk stated that “AI is more dangerous than nukes”. But is it really true to say that AI is dangerous to humanity, that machines will soon take over (which is sometimes claimed), and that jobs will be lost due to AI and digitisation?
The latter is very unlikely. Ever since automation was introduced, people have claimed that our jobs will disappear – this has not been the case. It has, however, relieved us from a lot of heavy lifting and physically demanding work.
The opportunities are, in fact, huge! But with new technology comes new problems and dangers which must obviously be taken seriously. AI will present new ethical and legal challenges. The problem is not that the “machines are taking over” but that they may be used by unethical or manipulative stakeholders, and that we do not have control over the systems we create.
In this context, I believe that LTH – as part of this comprehensive University – can provide solutions.