Back to the future – evolution or revolution in lifelong and executive education

07 July 2023

Two years ago CarringtonCrisp, together with LinkedIn, published a new study into the future of lifelong and executive education (FLEE).

Pre-covid, we’d worked on various projects with schools globally who wanted to know how to respond to a world where their hegemony was beginning to be challenged by new entrants with new technologies. Prospective learners were having their heads turned.

Then the virus hit, and everything went into overdrive. Workers were at home, most suddenly had a lot more time on their hands, and many took pause to think about how best they could further their careers in this new, uncertain reality. Schools scrambled to adjust, EdTech companies profited, and big firms like EY launched their own offerings.

Looking back at the findings is interesting – two-thirds of respondents said that they would increasingly use online resources to further their learning, and 68% said that a blended approach was ideal. 71% said that however it was delivered, learning needed to be flexible. Despite this, 63% maintained that face-to-face interactions led to a richer experience. Some questions were answered, some new ones were posed.

In the period since, the pace of change and the evolution of the executive education space hasn’t abated. And so, we thought it would be a good time to look again at the future of lifelong and executive education (FLEE 2). The focus will be similar – but we recognise that much progress has been made by both business schools and the challenger brands. So, what are the issues facing schools now? How has the market evolved? And what does that mean for the various actors and stakeholders? What indeed is the future for lifelong learning and executive education?

We are planning to run this new study starting in late September, with initial results for participant schools before the end of the year. Full results will be published in late January.

We are now inviting participants to sign up for FLEE 2, so if your school or institution wants to find out what the future of lifelong and executive education looks like, please do get in touch by dropping an email to info@carringtoncrisp.com. We’d be delighted to discuss the specifics further.