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NOW Ep129: What the future of work means for today’s students

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Is higher education keeping up with AI? For decades, the university degree has been treated as a reliable bridge between learning and work. AI is testing that bargain.
As technology changes what employers need, higher education faces a sharper test - not whether it can produce graduates, but whether it can prepare people to think, adapt and contribute to an economy being reshaped in real time.

In this episode of No Ordinary Wednesday, our host Jeremy Maggs, Jerome September, Dean of Student Affairs at Wits University and Lesley-Anne Gatter, Global Head of People & Organisation, examine what future readiness means for universities, employers and South Africa’s growth prospects.

Listen to the full conversation to find out more.

Read more on www.investec.com/now
Chapters
  • 00:00 How universities are rethinking readiness for work
  • 02:32 Why education access is a growth constraint
  • 03:43 What the future of work means for today’s students
  • 05:26 What employers value when AI changes the work
  • 07:16 How universities are adapting to the AI age
  • 09:39 The talent test in an AI economy
  • 11:25 Why education investment is economic investment
  • 12:26 How universities balance skills, knowledge and purpose
  • 14:01 Are we defining future skills too narrowly?
  • 15:34 Why future readiness starts before work
  • 16:56 Which sectors face the sharpest skills test?
  • 17:42 What universities need from policy
  • 19:12 The risk of universities falling behind
  • 20:03 The economic cost of a future-skills gap
16 Jun English South Africa Business · Investing

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