Why Education Must Rethink Its Purpose Before It's Too Late

A few weeks ago, I spoke to a farmer. He asked what I teach. “Marketing,” I said. He paused. “Do your students actually do marketing?” It was a simple question. And even though my students work with real clients, respond to actual briefs, and develop strategy documents, I knew what he meant. Even the most industry-focused education often lacks one thing: real experimentation, the trial-and-error learning that defines the professional world. Marketing, like most professions, isn’t mastered through perfect plans.

The Illusion of Progress

As someone who formally studied psychology and pedagogy followed by over a decade in business, here’s what I see: much of education still operates on models built for a different era. We assess business plans, not business outcomes. We encourage reflections but rarely create the kind of real-world risk that makes reflection necessary. We play it safe. I’ve seen talented individuals, both students and educators, quietly walk away from academia that no longer motivates or challenges them. As I always say, learning is not supposed to be easy, but I find it rare to come across courses that are truly intellectually stimulating. Instead of encouraging exploration, discomfort, and deeper thinking, we often focus on deliverables that feel safe, familiar, and easy to grade. If nothing changes, education may soon face that same quiet exodus.

Beyond Degrees

We all know that access to information is no longer the problem. And it’s not just because of AI. Today, anyone can take free courses from top universities, earn micro-credentials, complete online degrees or industry-recognised certifications. These alternatives are not only accessible and affordable, they're also becoming increasingly respected. In my endless conversations with industry professionals, one thing is clear: companies aren’t hiring degrees, they’re hiring skills. What matters most is a portfolio of experiences, the ability to apply knowledge, and the capacity to learn on the go, relearn, unlearn, and adapt.

The true value we can offer students today is sense-making: the ability to see the bigger context, interpret data, recognise patterns, connect dots, and respond to complexity - while also taking responsibility for their decisions and being rewarded for out-of-the-box thinking. And that’s not something you gain, for example, from learning marketing in isolation. It’s developed when disciplines intersect. By studying philosophy to understand ethics, art to appreciate perception, and literature to grasp the emotional nuances of human behaviour, we foster agility and contextual thinking. This integrated approach helps us connect ideas across various domains - an ability that remains underdeveloped in many university courses. But interdisciplinary education needs to start much earlier, in primary and secondary schools.

Smaller, Smarter, More Focused

I don’t believe universities will vanish, but I do believe they will shrink, evolving into smaller, purpose-driven institutions for those drawn to research, theory, and interdisciplinary exploration. Large lectures will become obsolete. We'll see a return to small classes that function as academic forums, providing spaces for deep discussions and intellectual pursuits. If universities want to remain relevant, they must:

• Shift from knowledge transmission to true intellectual stimulation

• Rethink assessments: reward exploration, not perfection.

• Break down silos between disciplines.

• Teach students to navigate ambiguity, not just deliver answers.

Education shouldn’t just prepare students for employment, it should prepare them for a world where the very idea of “jobs” is constantly reinvented. It’s time to build a new classroom.