“Higher education must be responsive to the changing nature of both learner needs and the demands of employers,” said Bras. “That will require new delivery methods, new products, and new interaction points to meet those needs on-demand and in real time.”

In late April, Georgia Tech released Deliberate Innovation, Lifetime Education, a report that outlines innovative and alternative educational models to address the changing needs of learners and employers. The report followed more than two years of work by Tech’s Commission on Creating the Next in Education (CNE), a collaborative effort of more than 50 faculty, staff, and students. Anchored in a recommendation called the Georgia Tech Commitment to a Lifetime Education, the report envisions a university of the future that provides an educational experience that can be personalized as professional interests or needs shift over an individual’s lifetime.

The other panelists included Bill Achtmeyer, founder and senior managing director of EY-Parthenon, Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, Yoshimasa Hayashi, minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology for the Government of Japan, and Candace Thille, director, learning science and engineering at Amazon.com.

The panel, held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, was moderated by Jeffrey Selingo, a visiting scholar at Tech’s Center for 21^st Century Universities.