MLW:Foresight in the University

Foresight in the University is a workshop to be organized in Bucharest (Romania), between September 29th and October 1st, 2010. The event was dedicated to the launching of a “Blueprint for Organizing Foresight in Universities”. This is the result of the work done by a group of experts as part of their contribution to the project Quality and Leadership for Romanian Higher Education.

Concept
Let’s ponder on the meaning of the word “blueprint” in the context of "foresight" and "higher education". It surely cannot designate a how-to guide, or some sort of substitute for foresight manuals. The reader cannot expect to execute a prescribed set of steps and then end up with a ready-made foresight process for his university. At the same time, we expect that the reader is someone beyond the narrow borders of the futurists’ community. Hence, this “blueprint” also cannot be academic work, geared towards an academic audience. And it cannot be just another report, such as the “blueprints” for regional foresight produced by the European Commission.

The “Blueprint” is supposed to be a tool that can be used in order to generate foresight processes in universities. But what does it mean “foresight processes in universities”? Does this even make sense? After all, universities are institutionalized organizations, not strategic units. They do not allocate resources according to priorities, at least when it comes to educational activities. So, there is no point in producing lists of priorities on the long-term. And what about identifying long-term implications of decisions that might be taken today? Surely, those impacts will be withstood by the community at large and only indirectly by the university itself.

The “Blueprint” does not offer universal answers to these questions. Instead, it helps the reader find her/his own answers while developing the foresight process for her/his university. And this is the whole point for the foresight process, to uncover answers to this kind of questions.

Participants
Speakers:
 * Adrian Curaj, National Authority for Scientific Research, Romania
 * Alain Michel, Group Futuribles, France
 * Dan Grosu, Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding
 * Ilkka Tuomi, Oy Meaning Processing Ltd, Finland
 * Jack Smith, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada
 * Ozcan Saritas, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, UK
 * Pierre Rossel, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
 * Radu Gheorghiu, Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding
 * Riel Miller, Science-Po Paris, France

Participants:
 * Anton Anton, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania
 * Arthur Boyarov, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
 * Carmen Racanel, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania
 * Cosmin Holeab, Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding
 * Eden Mamut, Ovidius University Constanta, Romania
 * Ghenadie Cernei, Agency for Innovation and Technological Transfer, Republic of Moldova
 * Gheorghe Duca, Academy of Science of Moldova, Republic of Moldova
 * Gheorghe Motca, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, Romania
 * Magdalena Platis, University of Bucharest, Romania
 * Mihaela Ghisa, Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding
 * Olga Troitskaya, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
 * Roumiana Gotseva, Foresight Alliance, UK
 * Sergiu Porcescu, Academy of Science of Moldova, Republic of Moldova
 * Sorin Cimpeanu, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, Romania
 * Sorin Costreie, University of Bucharest, Romania

DAY 1
20.00 - 21:00 Initial meeting and Reception A welcome speech by Adrian Curaj Introducing the Blueprint for Organizing Foresight in Universities by Dan Grosu

DAY 2
09:00 - 09:30 Quality and Leadership for Romanian Higher Education Adrian Curaj, President of the National Authority for Scientific Research from Romania Radu Gheorghiu, Assistant Manager of the QLHE project

09:30 - 10:45 Main challenges facing the future of higher education Alain Michel, Group Futuribles "Higher education must take into account the possible alternative futures in order to make every student aware of the consequences of some current trends in order to be able to have some impact on the course of events. It is why in a way foresight – or forward-looking activities (FLA) – can be regarded as the opposite of fatalism and resignation." 09:30 - 10:00 Alain Michel presentation 10:00 - 10:15 Panel contributions 10:15 - 10:45 Questions, answers, comments

10:45 - 11:15 Break

11:15 - 12:30 Systemic foresight methodology Ozcan Saritas, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research "Systemic Foresight is a new methodological approach for looking into the complex web of societal, technological, sustainability issues, making sense of them through studying their relationships, developing alternative and desirable models of the future, with the ways of achieving them through behavioral and structural transformations." 11:15 - 11:45 Ozcan Saritas presentation 11:45 - 12:00 Panel contributions 12:00 - 12:30 Questions, answers, comments

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 - 15:15 Looking for inspirational studies Pierre Rossel, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne "The purpose is to identify cases which may resemble the type of studies we intend to carry out using this Blueprint for Organizing Foresight in Universities or at least allow us to capture inspirational ideas on the kind of channels, features and solutions envisaged which could prove to be useful for our own goal." 14:00 - 14:30 Pierre Rossel presentation 14:30 - 14:45 Panel contributions 14:45 - 15:15 Questions, answers, comments

15:15 - 15:45 Break

15:45 - 17:00 Foresight-aware strategic management Ilkka Tuomi, Oy Meaning Processing Ltd. "Universities often find themselves implementing unintended strategies. Universities are among the most robust social institutions existing today. Even when organizationally new, they typically copy and replicate standard models, structures, and processes that embed centuries of experience on how learning and research happen, how universities interact with their social and economic environment, and how the creation and diffusion of knowledge is best organized." 15:45 - 16:15 Ilkka Tuomi presentation 16:15 - 16:30 Panel contributions 16:30 - 17:00 Questions, answers, comments

DAY 3
09:00 - 10:15 Which anticipatory system for university foresight? Riel Miller, Science-Po Paris "As the university changes and the society in which it functions also changes, there are people who ask the question: how should the university change? Generally these people, some of whom feel responsible for what happens, want to answer this question because they want the university to serve a specific purpose. They believe that the university should change in ways that make for a better future for the university and, usually, for society as well. As a result, in order to think about how the university should change they need to think about what the future might be like. This is where foresight comes in and the question of which anticipatory system to use to think strategically about the future." 09:00 - 9:30 Riel Miller presentation 09:30 - 09:45 Panel contributions 09:45 - 10:15 Questions, answers, comments

10:15 – 10:45 Break

10:45 - 12:30 Identifying key elements of the university’s agenda

Five break-out groups (facilitated by each one of the panel’s members) discuss and map the issues against the initial topography of a foresight process in the university presented during the previous day.

12:30 Lunch and Conclusion of the Event