Problem-Focused Higher Education for Shaping the Knowledge Society

Abstract

Higher education (HE) has not efficiently targeted a knowledge-shaped economy and has not kept up with the knowledge and IT skills demanded to resolve the problems from social- and work- exclusion. While recently unemployed knowledge workers are searching for new jobs, re-educating policies and career development options have not kept pace with work changes. There is an urgent need for a HE reform in order to address the current socio-economic and work-life crises. For this reform, the authors compare and contrast three promising learning approaches: problem-based learning PBL, work-based learning WBL and problem-focused education PFE. While in PBL and WBL work- and problem-related knowledge is transferred sufficiently, PFE seems to outperform. The paper points to an effective re-organisation of HE by (1) investing in PFE as the means to achieve quality in the learning process and its outcomes and (2) identifying ICT quality features for supporting the PFE learning process.