October 2024

Marc Washbourne has been founder and CEO of ReadyTech for 25 years. His personal agility has seen him grow a leading tech company of 600+ staff and named 2024 EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. He leads into the IT skills and edtech sectors through board roles with HEDx partners the Future Skills Organisation and Year13. As a user of AI, employer of graduates, and developer of lifelong learners, Marc has a keen eye for what is needed in tertiary education and its relationship with skills, employers and future learners. His keyword is agility and he offers an agile view of where AI is taking learning to complement those from leaders, edtech providers and students. We need continuous 360 views of the changes AI is bringing to skills and learning to remain relevant.

Scott Jones leads Navitas as Group CEO after more than 20 years working for this private provider in partnerships with public universities. The growth in student numbers for a future workforce, that achieves social inclusion among equity groups, needs responses beyond endless growth of public universities with comprehensive discipline offerings and research. This time of opportunity for small specialist providers, teaching only institutions and new investment in public/private partnerships, is vital if an affordable model of growth is to be achieved. Scott joins Christy Collis President-elect of HERDSA and I for a conversation about sector diversity.

Ulrik Juul Chistensen is the Danish founder of the Area 9 group of learning technology companies working in partnership with VitalSource. In this episode he outlines theories of achieving mastery through adaptive learning techniques supported by technology. He sees the number one challenge for global higher education providers to be working out how to prepare students to ask the right intelligent questions not only provide knowledge to intelligent students to have all the right answers.

George WIlliams AO is the new VC of Western Sydney University. He argues that we show our values by what we do and who we fight for. He sees that as the way to recover lost social licence for universities that more than half the population do not think positively of. The starting point in response is to recognise we have a problem. While we think we are valuable, the public do not. There is a compelling need to change, to focus on students, to embrace community, and to partner and use technology to meet students where they are, not where we want them to be.

David Stofenmacher is the purpose-driven founder and CEO of Mexican private university UTEL and established a global education company Scala partnering with multiple Latin American universities to teach 120,000 students. He joins Josh Nester MD of Seek Investments and Martin to describe his mission to provide a ROI within 2 years for all learners. He illustrates how a HigherEd entrepreneur needs patience and be prepared to learn and change every day. He illustrates the importance of staying true to mission, being single-minded about his why, and focus on opportunities not constraints.