New leadership model for Higher Education: SDGs and the Civic University in the Digital Era, Prof. Manuel Frutos-Perez

Professor Manuel Frutos-Perez
Cambridge Education Group
UK

Purpose: Higher Education can play a pivotal societal role in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This is a thought leadership paper grounded in practical principles on how university leadership needs to evolve to meet the challenges ahead.
Design/methodology/approach: This study uses descriptive, literature review and data forecasting methods to cover the following themes:

• The evolving Higher Education needs of different world regions.
• From aspiration to reality: education as the engine for sustainable development.
• Universities expanding their area of influence from the local civic model to a wider reach.
• Embracing distributed learning models to accelerate the implementation of SDGs.
• Harnessing digital initiatives and AI technologies to overcome development barriers.
• Access to Higher Education and investment in human capital.

Findings: This paper presents a clear argument for the evolution in tertiary education strategy and methodologies that will be required to meet the development needs of different parts of the world in ways that are sustainable and affordable.
Originality: The novelty of the study is in the use of large datasets to forecast educational development needs and link them to the strategic change management that will be required of Higher Education Institutions to achieve the UN’s SDGs.
Practical implications: What changes to practice should be made because of this research/chapter? This study is informed by available datasets and correlated with experience of delivering university courses to a global audience. It aims at informing practical changes that university leaders need to consider in order to facilitate the large-scale expansion of their reach and participation that will be needed to accomplish the UN’s SDGs.