每日跟讀#746: 60 Years of Higher Ed — Really?

The 60-year curriculum.

為期60年的課程。

It’s a new way of thinking about higher education. Not as a discrete four years of classroom learning, but stretching over the six decades or so that today’s college students are expected to work over their lifetime.

這是對高等教育的一種新思維，不再是獨立的四年課堂學習，而是延伸60年左右，也就是目前的大學生預計一生之中將會工作的年數。

The 60-year curriculum, which is more an evolving model than a concrete program, is primarily taking shape in the continuing education arm of universities, with the goal of developing a higher education model that is much more nimble. It needs to respond quickly to the reality that employees now change jobs and careers many times and that rapidly evolving industries require them to continually learn new skills.

這種60年的課程與其說是個具體學程，不如說是個正在演進中的模式，主要是在大學的繼續教育部門中形成，目標是發展出一種靈活得多的高等教育模式。它必須對眼下員工經常更換工作和職業，快速演變的產業又需要他們不斷學習新技能的現實迅速做出反應。

“The real driver of the 60-year curriculum is the job market and length of life,” said Huntington D. Lambert, the dean of the division of continuing education and university extension at Harvard University, who is a leader in the movement.

這項運動的領導者之一，哈佛大學繼續教育暨大學延伸院長杭亭頓．藍伯特說：「真正驅動60年課程的力量，來自就業市場和人的壽命。」

The employee of the future, he added, “typically will have a new job every five years, probably for 60 to 80 years, and probably every one of those will require skills you did not learn in college.”

他接著說，未來的員工「很可能在60到80年的時間裡，通常五年就換個工作，而且可能每樣工作都必須具備在大學裡沒有學到的技能」。

While the 60-year curriculum may sound like a new name for lifelong learning, the difference is that it focuses on how an institution can provide formal education courses and programs, said Gary Matkin, dean of the Division of Continuing Education and vice provost of the Division of Career Pathways at the University of California at Irvine.

爾灣加州大學繼續教育學暨職涯路徑學院院長蓋瑞．麥特金表示，雖然60年課程聽起來可能像是終身學習的一個新名稱，但不同之處在於，它側重於一個機構如何提供正規的教育課程跟學程。

“The 60-year curriculum is really the organizing principle behind a lot of different trends in higher education, including the trend of being more accountable and very relevant to the work force needs of a particular region,” said Matkin, who is credited with coining the phrase. “It’s not just inward looking, in terms of students, but also outward looking in how the university can really help the community.”

麥特金說道：「60年課程實際上是高等教育中許多不同趨勢背後的組建原則，包括對特定區域勞力需求更負責任且高度相關的趨勢。它不是只從學生的角度出發向內省視，還向外探看大學如何才能真正幫助社區。」麥特金被公認為這個新名詞的締造者。

It also includes more short courses that emphasize job skills — both hard skills, such as a new computer language or technology, and soft skills, such as learning how to engage in difficult conversations — using real-life problems and case studies.

另外它還納入更多強調工作技能的短期課程，包括新的電腦語言或科技這類硬技能，與學習如何參與困難對話等軟技能，這些課程觸及現實生活中的問題，並做個案研究。

Many continuing education programs already offer some of the elements. For example, the University of Washington Continuum College, which is the continuing education and professional development division of the University of Washington in Seattle, offers 99 certificate programs — most noncredit — as well as 111 graduate degree programs.

許多繼續教育學程已提供前面提到的某些元素，例如華盛頓大學教育拓展學院提供99個證書學程（大多為非學分學程）及111個研究生學位學程。該學院是西雅圖華盛頓大學的繼續教育和專業發展部門。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/346874/web/#2L-15887608L