ABSTRACT
Looking back at the 2020s, there is no doubt that we live in a VUCA world (the acronym VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). First coined by the US Army, the acronym is now widely applied to society, describing how the world is constantly changing, becoming more unstable every day – albeit at different paces and volumes in different parts of the world. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis alone has demonstrated the vulnerability of our global structures and the surprising interconnectedness between different economic, social, and educational systems. The pandemic’s unexpected threat led to the overload of health systems worldwide, the turmoil of economic and governmental structures, and the overwhelming mental burden, fear, and misery of individuals in all parts of the world. This will not be the last sudden crisis in the global world, with climate change, demographic transitions, and economic overload being just a few arenas of concern. While human life and education cannot focus simply on how to survive and adapt to such circumstances (Biesta, 2022, p. 11), today’s essential task for individuals and politically responsible governance is to consider not only how to manage risks by adjusting regulations but also how to respond to change more broadly and structurally and through collective action. Moreover, as anthropologist Arturo Escobar (2020) reminds us, the university itself is in crisis in a world that is in crisis. Consequently, in order to transform its conceptualisations and processes, higher education must deal with complexity in society while providing a sense of agency for its actors.
