[PARTNER CONTENT] In 2015, I was quoted saying “a look into the future, requires a look into the past”.
Change and innovation cannot take place without informed historic knowledge as well as the context thereof. We need to first seek understanding before applying change. It is with this very approach that I will be strategically crafting the future of AAA School of Advertising as Acting CEO.
The need for education to employ unrivalled 21st century skills and values has become more important now to ensure that we are producing graduates that are critical thinkers, problem solvers with a flare of creativity and have an entrepreneurial mentality.
The face of our industry has changed, and so has the need of skills. We are riddled with having to understand this new young workforce called the millennials and in tandem work towards building an industry that will be suitable for the workforce of the future.
This puts us at a crossroad where we are faced with issues of changing student needs as well as employer needs. We need to ensure that we foster change within our training and education that will be relevant and highly effective 10 years from now.
The demands of 4IR
South African educational institutions are battling with keeping up with the demands of students and the expectation of industries to produce a workforce that will be equipped and ready for the 4IR.
Factors that are affecting our education are: fat cat institutions’ high cost structures, bound by CHE and SAQA, locked into curricula and time frames and having a focus on what is, not how to.
When looking at factors affecting the student, we need to consider areas such as flexibility in their time, the cost of education, designing a programme that considers a balanced life, what is being taught vs the accessibility thereof and the need to tap into global expertise.
Lastly, the employer also has concerns such as a shortage of skills, employees that are fit for purpose (know and do), employees that go the extra mile, problem solvers, wider expertise, global thinkers and the ability to cope with volatility and the need to have agile home working spaces to save on operational costs.
The solution for us is in INNOVATION! How?
- Understanding our stakeholders to develop disruptive learning platforms
- Customised education to provide student value rather than certification
The only way to achieve these goals is through collaborative efforts from all fronts, the bodies that govern us, our policy makers, corporates, fellow educational institutions as well as our future working force.
As AAA School of Advertising, we are already taking the necessary steps through our executive training programmes that are designed and customised to meet bespoke needs.
About Dr Ludi Koekemoer
Dr Ludi Koekemoer’s illustrious career spans over three large advertising agencies. He has held roles in academia at four institutions of higher learning including as a professor of marketing, chairman of the department of business management and professor of strategic management and CEO of AAA School of Advertising for 15 years, where he was recently reappointed as the Acting CEO. Koekemoer developed and launched a unique MBA at Monash South Africa in 2016.
He has published six books on marketing communication and contributed chapters to 12 books on marketing and related topics.
