Educating the future; bringing knowledge to the world

The economic crisis the world faces today comes at the transition of one technological era to another. Genetics, robotization, biotechnology, nanotechnology will make their entry into all economic sectors. Within five years we will have computers that are smarter than humans; we will have cameraís that can look through walls and there will be moving/turning skyscrapers. There will be more and more people on earth. In 1900 2 billion people were living on our planet; now we are with 6.5 billion and in a few decades 9 billion people will cover the earth. All these people need food, beverages, want to drive cars, need housing and will exhaust the earth. The above leads to the situation that universities and business schools educate students for situations, knowledge and jobs that do not exist yet. From this global context the possible impact for the university of the future (distant learning, dual learning programs) and the students of the future (based on the so called zap-generation will be formulated. The status quo will be defined for real estate education worldwide. Where can real estate education be positioned on a worldwide scale and what are the challenges the universities and business schools face. Finally the conclusion will be made that it is preferable that the whole education chain should operate joint and transparent; filling in the gaps and needs that exist (like lifelong learning and in company courses). Careful and accurate positioning and accreditation by an independent organization seems to be a must in order to be educating the future and bringing knowledge into the world. [see also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj7kTWnSpCY]