DNV has developed scenarios, together with and for representatives of the British higher education and government. These scenarios are, among other things, used to develop and test the possible use of modern IT technologies.

Workshops

Five workshops with over a hundred representatives have been initiated and coordinated by JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee). JISC coordinates education and research on using ICT in higher education for the British government.

Purpose

The goal of the workshops was to create awareness of the necessity and the possibilities of a structured way of regarding the future.

Timing

According to Lawrie Phipps (projectleader of JISC’s User Environments programme), the workshops were perfectly times. Professionals in British education experience on a day-to-day basis that they are living in dynamic and uncertain times. That makes them even more interested in possible developments in the future. The one day workshops, organized by DNV were a good fit to that need.

Set-up

The workshops were all set-up according to the same structure. First we introduced the method used and some general scenarios. Then we looked into the consequences of each scenario for the higher education. After that, options for the use of ICT were generated and tested.


Focus

The focus in the workshops was with the:
1. Exploring trends and strategic issues
2. Generating and testing options
3. Developing of profiles of future students and staff

Especially working with profiles encouraged creativity and produced a lot of new concrete insights.

Insight with trend analysis

The British education wants to develop the right products and services. By using the trend analysis they gained insight in:
- Demand for education
- Distribution of responsibility between universities and companies
- Competition (whom can you compete with?)
- Developments in regulations (privacy- and anti terror law), standardization and innovation climate (available risk capital, innovation subsidy)

Results

After the project was finished, about 10 participants organized a scenario workshop for their own organization. Furthermore, JISC has done some scenario workshops with parts of the educational field.

Future

We have learned that, despite a defined focus and a thorough preparation, a one day session is too short. When the sessions are expanded to 24 hours it will be realistic to identify robust, creative options.