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By Amar Toor Digital Communications Officer, Directorate for Education and Skills Image credit: Alex Kotliarskyi/ Unsplash As the founder and executive director of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN), Shea Gopaul spends a lot of her time thinking about the future of work. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and emerging technologies have dramatically altered the skill sets that employers seek today, and the career paths for young adults today look increasingly unclear. But Gopaul thinks apprenticeships can help – both for recent graduates who may be unsure of their next steps, as well as older adults looking to adapt their skill sets to a fast-changing market. We sat down with Gopaul at the OECD Forum earlier this year to learn more about how apprenticeships can bridge the “skills gap”, and why effective apprenticeship programmes are a “win-win” for both companies and employees. Apprenticeship is an attractive form of educating young people and preparing them for the l...

By Amar Toor Communications and Digital Officer, Directorate for Education and Skills Image credit: Nathan Dumlao/ Unsplash In an article published in 2017, University of Sydney economics professor Colm Harmon argues that the challenge facing today’s university students is one of “ambiguity”. “They have more options on many fronts, but face a world that is closing in around them,” Harmon writes. “They have accepted that they will perhaps have more than one career, and that they may be training for a type of work that could be jilted out of existence at any point by the forces of globalisation and technology.” Harmon, who is also Vice Provost at the University of Sydney, acknowledges that it’s difficult to predict how future graduates will navigate this new world, or how institutions of higher education will evolve in response to it. But in an interview on the sidelines of the OECD Forum , he shared his thoughts about what he envisions as a “new model of learning” – one in which insti...