Occupations in the year 2030

July 19, 2016 0News
  • FUTURISTS predict 80% of occupations in the year 2030 will be different from today’s careers. This means that if you want to stay competitive, you will have to continually learn new skills.
  • Peter Drucker, probably the most respected management guru in the US, writes in the Forbes edition of 15 May that his former students are back in his lecture hall: “They want to look holistically at their occupations, mainly because today’s blistering pace of technological and economic changes demand it.”
  • Engineers say they need refresher training at least every two years and a more comprehensive course every four. This applies to millions of other knowledge workers too.
  • According to Drucker, the availability of knowledge through the computer and Internet started the process of lifelong training but the gigantic changes in society are giving it impetus. “People who are highly educated and can boast of their achievements feel that they will not be able to keep pace without studying further.”
  • He attributes this to businesses showing a growing preference for outsourcing, which has a tremendous effect on personnel turnover. “There is not much likelihood of anyone entering the job market today and working for the same company a decade from now. You have to take responsibility for your own future.”
  • This creates a market for continuing training through conventional institutions such as universities and colleges, but there are also many new entrants. The Internet is at the heart of it.
  • Anton Jordaan, financial director of the Global School of Business, one of the new providers of post-school training in SA, believes the country’s needs are even greater than in many other countries because we were isolated for so long.
  • This led to training inadequacies — which is why so many universities have picked the brains of their overseas colleagues on course content. Some now act as the local agent of major overseas institutions.
  • Conventional institutions are getting more competition from private education but most are not suffering from inertia.
  • Telematic degrees, other forms of training with the aid of computers and decentralised learning centres are becoming commonplace, while new niche markets in adult education are being discovered.
  • The new business school of the University of Pretoria (UP), which was developed in Sandton recently at a cost of R45m, is an example. The school boasts various leading local and overseas businessmen as lecturers and concentrates on issues businesses deal with daily.
  • Another university that saw a gap in the market was the University of the Free State, which recently started a new Centre for Agricultural Management in partnership with various partners in the agricultural industry.
  • Flip Smit, former rector of UP, foresees a large growth market for private institutions in particular. “There is proof worldwide that private education is more effective and innovative,” he says.
  • “The competition should be welcomed because it will eventually lead to higher standards.”
  • Briefer, more appropriate training is growing in popularity, says Smit. Tertiary institutions are giving more credit for previous experience and accreditation for qualifications obtained elsewhere.
  • The overseas pattern is being repeated in SA. The average age of students at the Central Missouri State University in America is 47. This university is one of many in the US to have noted the niche offered by retraining and has enjoyed tremendous success focusing on this area.
  • In SA, the prospects for adult education are even better: only 1, 3m people have tertiary education and 4m older than 20 have no schooling.

source: www.sake24.com


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