The answer, of course, depends who you ask, but that said, all are certain education and training will only increase in importance as we move further into the 21st century.

"I'm even starting to wonder if there is a future for futurists?" Dr. Tomorrow, Futurist

No one ever said painting a clear picture of the future of education would be easy. But we're going to try. For this 50th edition of nextSteps we contacted several people and resources to try and shed some light on where education is headed in the next five to 10 years. While we can't be assured the projections will come true, we can't be assured they won't either. Here's what we came across:

Dr. Gail Barrington, part-time futurist and president of Calgary's Barrington Research Group Inc., believes traditional universities will see considerable changes in the years ahead.

"(There's) likely to be some sort of university 'crisis' and then some re-thinking about the role of the university," she says. "Currently professors' reward system (is) entirely focussed on academic pursuits/publishing and not on preparing students for careers."

She also suggests applied diplomas and degrees will grow in value in the future, as will a move by employers to provide more in-house training and education.

"(There's) likely to be some sort of university 'crisis' and then some re-thinking about the role of the university." Gail Barrington, Researcher

More part-time and on-line educational opportunities will become available as we move into a stage where "lifelong learning" will increasingly become the catch phrase, she says. "Someone called me today and asked if a sociology degree was worthwhile getting at age 40. I said 'of course, your life experience is very valuable.'"

Frank Ogden, otherwise known as futurist Dr. Tomorrow, says education will change more in the next 10 years than in the last 100.

"Cyber education will move in rapidly because of the vast amount of resources now being gathered and programmed to provide cyber-ed at a fraction of the cost of present methods," he says. "Consider education say, via a private CNN (or others), 24-hour a day satellite-delivered (direct or via cable or DSL) channel carrying almost everything taught today by a teacher."

Think that sounds a bit far-fetched? Well, consider this article from the Feb. 14, 2001 issue of the Vancouver Sun: "The B.C. education ministry is reviewing a new type of education that could revolutionize the way students are taught in this province. It's virtual-schooling, which enables students to attend cyber-schools through their computers, working at their own pace, in their own homes.

"I believe that for the past decade we have been entering the dawn of the end of the Age of Credentialism." Dr. Tomorrow

"The cost of their education is significantly lower than in regular schools, especially in B.C., where students generally have contact with only student counsellors and those who mark their work."

Dr. Tomorrow also believes that this new method of "instant" accessibility to knowledge will revolutionize all education. "I believe that for the past decade we have been entering the dawn of the end of the Age of Credentialism," he says. "Things are moving too fast to be taught. Just in time (JIT) learning is going to do to traditional education what JIT did to the North American car industry when Japan introduced it to their auto assembly lines." Essentially, JIT uses robots to do the work people used to do. Construction companies in Japan are now using this technique as well meaning labor costs are cut and work can be completed 24 hours a day.

The move to more computerization and rapid increases in information technology may also require a redesign of some school programs, Dr. Tomorrow says. "Any job schools are presently training students to enter will most likely be gone before they graduate. This is all very complex and changing as we write. I'm even starting to wonder if there is a future for futurists? Trying to track and maintain a trend over 10 or even five years no longer is the possible goal it was in the past."

Roger Goodman, who compiled the research for the Alberta Careers Beyond 2000 study, says private education at all levels will be used to meet the need for an educated and growing workforce.

"Meanwhile, information technology will make possible a wide range of flexible educational programs that can be tailored to individual needs," he wrote in Alberta Careers. "There will also be opportunities to export specialized education programs to the developing world in areas of Albertan expertise such as energy, agriculture and transportation."

Erika Shaker, with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, believes while the move to more private education is likely, the broader based issue of education and training needs further consideration.

"What this issue does indicate is the need for interrogation of the role of an education." Erika Shaker, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

"What this issue does indicate is the need for interrogation of the role of an education. Is it about training for immediate job-market needs," she asks? "Or is it about something else entirely, something much more broad-based? Education is expensive--witness the size of the industry and the reasons for the push to privatize it--but its value far outweighs its price."

Regardless of its value, the availability of traditional post-secondary education may diminish to many in the not-so-distant future, Shaker adds.

"Our research on post-secondary education in Canada (shows) that a student's ability to pursue his or her education is now largely dependent on province of residence, the institution one hopes to attend, and income bracket. Provinces show enormous discrepancies in their commitment to providing access to quality, publicly accountable higher education on an equitable basis. This is beginning to be reflected on campuses across the country--as fewer students can assume the substantial debt loads that come from the pursuit of higher education. Lower income students are applying in fewer numbers, and middle-income students are becoming impoverished over the course of their degree or diploma."

Shaker says her research shows private institutions may not solve all the problems either as those obtaining degrees from private institutions have a default rate on student loans two to three times higher than those graduating from public institutions.

"(This suggests) either the jobs are not there after graduation, or that the training these students have received is substandard," she says. "A third possibility is that the training is so closely geared to the immediate needs of the job market that once that short term need is over, students who miss that window of opportunity find their training is quickly obsolete, although their debt is not."