Abstract:

Predicting change and how to cope with change has always been one of the missions of Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The recent worldwide technological transformation and the urgency to meet global educational challenges and expectations of stakeholders, have put HEI under a great deal of pressure. To HEI, predicting change and not only reacting to it, must be a full-time job that requires high levels of commitment, preparation, and organization. Even if learning and teaching are the most important assignments HEI have to face, in a digitally leveraged and interconnected world, collaboration in different communities of practice is mandatory for success. Relevant competences for the future at individual and collective levels include self-management, active learning, problem solving, flexibility, or reasoning, but also technology-related ones, such as digital literacy. This means that a strong need for reskilling, namely online, opens doors to HEI to make themselves ready for the future. To help accommodate the challenges in this global landscape, HEI and their top-managers need to perceive long-term goals, take appropriate decisions, and be prepared to accomplish them. A well-structured strategic vision based on people and cooperation processes with stakeholders, will provide priceless support to a fruitful mission, and the times we are living offer a unique opportunity to think differently and act as a collective mindset. The present exploratory and qualitative study builds on the perceptions of top-decision representatives in a Portuguese university regarding the institution’s strategy to prepare and anticipate new and impactful educational approaches. The added value of this research can be extended to other HEI that are currently facing the same challenges, namely with regard to the transformation of HEI in times of uncertainty and change.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Global, Competences for the Future, Digital.