The Daily Roundup: The Evolution of U

By Zack on February 3, 2009

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Evolution argues that over time species continue to develop and change to best fit their habitat. Aside from life forms, this theory has proven to be true in society as well. Specifically businesses have found that to be successful they must adapt and change or face extinction.

Western Union came to prominence as a communications giant, operating the largest system of telegraphs in the United States. As the telephone rose to prominence and the telegraph diminished, Western Union changed and took on new areas of expertise. Throughout it's history Western Union has offered the first consumer charge card and introduced the first commercial satellite. Today there are over 350,000 Western Union agencies in over 240 countries specializing largely as a financial services company. This is an example of how a company has adapted to fit a changing environment over time.

I bring this up because it seems that today we may be seeing the evolution of the higher education system.

NASA, Google, and some of the foremost authorities in science and technology have teamed up to create a new school, dubbed Singularity University, that is looking to solve “humanity’s grand challenges”. The university is named after the idea of the singularity - an extremely rapid period of technological progress. And damn if it doesn’t sound like the coolest school ever.

This is an extraordinarily innovative idea. The school will is the brain child of Peter Diamandis - who is chairman of the X-Prize Foundation - and futurist Ray Kurzweil, whose book The Singularity is Near gave Diamandis the idea. Singularity University will begin classes this June with an initial enrollment of 30 students . . . with hopes to expand to about 100 soon. The program will offer a nine-week semester with subjects that are "a menu of the disciplines whose exponential advancement Kurzweil suggests will overturn the world as we know it - nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, energy, and more."

The idea of Singularity University is to assemble graduate students and those already working in various scientific fields, with the belief that advances come more easily when experts in different fields work together. A graduate student in nanotechnology, for instance, would receive expert briefings in future studies and forecasting; in biotechnology; in finance and entrepreneurship; in networks and computer systems—in 10 disciplines overall. Each of the students would then be looking from different angles at the same set of problems. "The magic of breakthroughs occurs when you have nontraditional thinking around a problem that is stuck," Diamandis said. "It's when a mathematician works on a biological problem, for example."

The development of this project is Diamandis answer to questions he has about traditional academic institutions slow-moving response to fast-changing technological developments. "But Mr. Diamandis said that he does not see his Singularity University as competing with traditional colleges. 'We’re supplementing those, not replacing them,' he said."

Let me just say that I have always been open to innovation and change. Just because one system has been effective for so long, that does not mean that there is no room for adjustment. The important thing to remember is that this is simply an alternative offer to education. The current education system isn't going anywhere. Personally, I cannot see how anything but good could come out of this experiment in the evolution of higher learning.

For more traditional career info, we present The Links . . .

George's Employment Blawg Offers: Tips to get you from college to career. Helpful tips like how to find that first job to how to survive it. My advice? Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

The Creative Career Provides: 5 ways to save money. My favorite is "milk that old college ID for all it's worth." Never let that thing go. Never. When I finally had to stop using mine it was just a blank white card from all the years of tagging along in my wallet.

The Wall Street Journal Has: Advice on how to answer the toughest interview question out there: "What is your greatest weakness?" Stupid interviewers. Why can't they ask the easy questions . . . like "what is your weakest greatness?" Hmmm . . . that's a thinker. It's either the X-Ray Eyes or the Frozen breath.

Secrets of the Job Hunt Gives: A free PDF of their "1 page guide to finding internships." Hey, if you're going to work for free, you might as well save money by using free guides to find the gig.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed Profiles: Academic Earth, a website that offers free online video lectures from leading professors. Finally, college students' long national nightmare is over . . . lectures in the comfort of your dorm room! But I can't help thinking this seems just a little familiar.

Jibber Jobber Recommends: Happt About My Resume. "In 63 pages, Barbara Safani shares the 50 resume tips with super-tangible examples. I can get my resume out and compare how I’m doing against her 50 resume tips and examples (pictures of the tips) … this is exactly what I need. I already felt I had a strong resume, but this resume book provides my final proofing checklist to see if I’m violating any resume rules."

Fast Company Locates: What foreign countries are hiring. The article has leads on jobs in Finland, Canada, Germany, South Korea and more. In this economy your going to have to be creative. So keep your options open and look abroad.