1. Delivering Tomorrow’s Workforce
How can we ensure that we keep abreast with the needs of an ever-changing labour market?
Professor Richard Miles, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, The University of Sydney

2. Delivering Tomorrow’s Workforce
How can we ensure that we keep abreast with the needs of an ever-changing labour market?
Professor Richard Miles
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education, Enterprise & Engagement)
University of Sydney

3. Fourth Industrial Revolution
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4. AI, Automation and Jobs
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5. Globalisation and Automation
Longitudinal data indicates that globalisation and automation are significantly changing the employment landscape
Cross-sectional data indicates non-routine cognitive work is least at risk of automation.
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6. Declining Job Security
There has been a decline in job security since 2004;
There is a significant impact from trade exposure and from automation on overall perceptions of job security;
Note the blue bars which represent ‘within-characteristic effects’
Characteristics include: trade exposure, industry sector, automation risk, occupancy type (routine/non-routine etc).
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7. Skills and Employment
Growth is in non- routine, cognitive work (e.g. creativity, non- routine problem solving) associated with increased productivity and output:
Trends in overall jobs indicates a change to the composition of work:
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8. Skills and Remuneration
There is a wage premium for jobs needing above average analytical and cognitive skills
Growth in routine, manual work has been from construction and mining sectors (manufacturing and agriculture has fallen)
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9. Top Ten Job Skills
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10. Intelligence Sets
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11. So how should Higher Education meet these Challenges?
What’s important then?
Technical depth
Transferable (broader) skills
Offer opportunities for students to further develop:
Social intelligence
Creativity
Problem solving
Inventiveness
Influence
Critical thinking
Agility
Resilience
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12. Design Thinking
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13. Preparing for the Future of Work at the University of Sydney
Purpose:
The University of Sydney is transforming the student experience as part of our strategic plan.
Our focus is on global experiences, inter-disciplinary learning, and real-world projects.
We are working with community and industry partners to address complex problems in a real-world context.
Aim:
To develop partnerships which:
Provide experiential learning opportunities,
Develop students’ graduate attributes such as inventiveness and critical thinking;
Support work-readiness, agility and a passion for life-long learning;
Expose students to workplace transformations such as automation.
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14. Industry and Community Project Units (ICPUs)
Key Features:
A single interdisciplinary project unit (6cp);
A single unit of study outline with standard outcomes and assessment design; and
Common architecture which is scalable and supports co-design..
Students will:
Satisfy both interdisciplinary and project-work components of the new undergraduate curriculum;
Engage with leading industry and community organisations in domestic and global environments;
Challenge conventional ways of thinking by working at disciplinary intersections;
Develop their broader skills set out in the graduate qualities; and
Collaborate to address unfamiliar problems and navigate context complexity.
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15. 2019 Project Partners
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16. Semester Length Projects
Partner organisations provide real-world opportunities and/or problems which are relevant to their business for students to address.
Projects are usually broad in scope but should be sufficiently specific for interdisciplinary student groups to be able to address over a four-week intensive period.
Examples:
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17. Intensive Global ICPU
A project established in collaboration with a community or industry partner is developed into an academically rigorous senior level unit of study (3000 level and 4000 level).
Interdisciplinary groups of five students work on the opportunity or problem under the supervision of the academic lead and with support and guidance from the industry and community partner.
During these sessions, the Project Supervisor (academic) provide guidance, feedback and advice in an interactive seminar setting.
The unit run intensively during the winter and summer vacations over a 4 week period.
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18. Pilot ICPU Global Projects
Hong Kong – PwC (Dec 2018)
Based in the PwC Global Experience Centre which is an innovation-focused section of the business. Students will examine:
How can PwC engage with the start-up and entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hong Kong and China?; and
What is the impact of emerging technologies for PwC?
United Kingdom– Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Feb 2019)
Co-taught by the University of Sydney and the University of Cambridge.
Four week academic intensive unit for high-achieving students.
Students will undertake a project with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’s new Innovation Centre in Cambridge, UK.
India – Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (Feb 2020)
Students will be working on developing novel approaches to improve infrastructure and services to local communities.
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19. Four Themes for Inventiveness
The Innovation Hub will be collaborating with faculties and multi-disciplinary research centres from across the University to deliver a unique range of innovative learning experiences in 2019, based on the following four themes:
Democratising Healthcare through Technology
Smart Policy for Smart Cities
Sustainable Approaches to Planetary Health
Connecting Human and Machine Learning
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
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20. Unit Structure Academic staff Industry Partner Students
Sydney Inventiveness ICPU
Theme 1
Academic Lead
Academic Staff
Multi-disciplinary Research Centre
Industry Partner
Theme 2
Theme 3
Theme 4
Academic staff
One academic lead per theme
Radically multi-disciplinary academic staff
Skills workshops and seminars
Project feedback to student groups
Industry Partner
Seminars
Access to project related information
Access to multidisciplinary staff
Project feedback to student groups
Students
per theme (30 for pilot)
3000 and 4000 level
Multidisciplinary groups of 5 students
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21. What Does This All This Mean?
Most of you will have a number of ‘careers’ rather than one career during your working life
Personal/human skills are as important as technical skills
These are core not soft skills
Narrow specialisms will become increasingly redundant unless allied with a broad based foundational liberal studies education
However, you will still need a deep knowledge of discipline
Agility and the ability to continue learning new skills will be essential
Do subjects that really interest you- you will always do better
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22. Professor Richard Miles
Presented by
Professor Richard Miles
Pro Vice Chancellor (Education – Enterprise & Engagement)
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