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In this chapter, the authors define the new business term, future-proofing, and apply it to knowledge preservation and curation. The fundamental principles of future-proofing and the challenges and mechanics are discussed. These challenges are discussed in developing future-proofed knowledge preservation, and a curation strategy is identified. The authors identify four challenges to future-proofing a knowledge preservation and curation strategy – availability, visibility, accessibility, and consumability of knowledge assets. Ultimately, the greatest challenge to future-proofing these strategies lies in the channels we use to create, transmit, share, and store knowledge assets. At a minimum, the chapter speaks to the critical importance of future-proofing the preservation of knowledge assets, so there is a possibility of curation at some point in a known or unknown future.

Although trends such as digitisation, demographic change and flexibilisation of work have been recognised by many human resource (HR) practitioners, this viewpoint paper argues that future-orientation in the HR sector could benefit from making use of the foresight perspective. Foresight is understood as the systematic, method-guided analysis and discussion of possible future developments. The goal is to build future-robust structures in organisations at an early stage and to identify emerging skill needs. This paper aims to make HR professionals aware of the potential of foresight for their strategic activities.

Introducing the approach of strategic foresight to the field of HR, this study derives the argumentation from a discussion of literature and practitioners’ experiences.

So far, foresight in companies has mainly been conducted by strategy and innovation units, with HR and organisational development playing a subordinate role. However, foresight can contribute to gaining a competitive advantage and proactively shape future success factors in the organisation.

The authors advise practitioners to begin implementing strategic foresight within HR departments and organisational development to build future-proof organisations.

This paper introduces strategic foresight to the field of HR and points to a lack of integration between potentially existing foresight activities and people and culture considerations for the future.

This chapter explores the contribution of The Open University (OU) Library to influencing curriculum decisions about embedding digital and information literacies in an online environment. Recommendations can be applied to higher education (HE) institutions as they develop permanent e-learning strategies to prepare for a long-term solution to online learning experiences. Learning providers are creating strategies for online content creation, student engagement, and skills development. It is an opportunity to demonstrate their value by making an effective transition to online learning, streamlining services to create student-centered experiences.

It investigates existing e-pedagogical approaches developed pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic to embedding digital literacies in practice, drawing on the OU’s experience of developing effective frameworks for online teaching programs. The aim is to review institutional preparedness for effective transition, so that staff members and students can adapt to post-COVID realities. This draws upon student-centered, holistic design of programs to embed accessible and inclusive processes in distance learning, utilizing technological solutions to create optimal teaching and learning environments.

It will also make recommendations about how embedding digital literacies within the curriculum will equip graduates for post-education experiences within working and social contexts, by building activities into module that develop digital capabilities. For effective learning experiences to take place, institutions require development of born-digital support material to develop staff confidence and ability to produce effective, accessible online learning objects. As more organizations move to online, hybrid, and flipped learning interventions, high-level university strategy can future-proof learning design by developing the support that staff need to provide the best experiences for their learners.

This study investigates the barriers and drivers of using green methods and technologies (GMTs) in supportive educational buildings (SEBs) in South Africa, and assesses their impact on the circular economy (CE) in achieving net-zero carbon goals. While there has been extensive literature on green building technologies, there is limited research on the barriers and drivers of using GMT in SEBs, as well as their impact on the circular economy (CE) in achieving net-zero carbon goals.

This study adopts an interpretivist approach with an ontological basis, using an overarching case study of a SEB at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Semistructured interviews were conducted with executive UCT management, and a field survey of a UCT supportive education building was performed.

At UCT, multiple GMTs have been installed across various buildings to enhance monitoring and management of water and energy consumption. Moreover, initiatives to positively influence student behavior, such as water and energy-saving campaigns around UCT premises, have been introduced. The findings further indicate that UCT has recently emphasized the implementation of GMTs, resulting in improved resource efficiency, CE practices and progress toward achieving net-zero carbon targets for supportive education buildings and the university as a whole.

This research highlights the positive impact of GMTs on a SEB’s CE and net-zero carbon operations. As a result, facility managers should consider incorporating GMTs when planning the development or refurbishment of SEBs.

Safety and security (S&S) are critical concerns in South Africa, especially in Cape Town, one of the country’s most crime-ridden cities. The University of Cape Town (UCT), situated on a large, open campus, has experienced increased malefaction. Facilities management (FM) services at universities bear the primary responsibility for providing S&S to their communities. To comprehensively understand and address the community’s demands regarding S&S, the current study was conducted to investigate the challenges specific to open universities. This study aims to determine whether implementing community-based FM (CbFM) principles and using technological innovations could offer a more effective and sustainable solution.

The study adopted interpretivist overarching case study methodology, which is ontologically based. A mixed-method approach was used to incorporate the strengths and limitations of the weaknesses of both methods. The data collection took the form of an online survey of the university community and semi-structured interviews with university executive management to obtain data from the single case study of UCT. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used to identify emergent themes from the qualitative data.

The study presents an overall view of the provision of S&S at UCT, the unique challenges faced by management and the main S&S issues affecting the community. Moreover, the study reveals that UCT has implemented community participation processes in the past with limited success. This is because the strategies implemented constitute a narrow perspective of community participation. Therefore, a much smarter and more inclusive perspective using technological innovation is required for successful community participation to occur and to be successfully used in providing S&S toward achieving future-proofing facilities.

This research has demonstrated the influence of CbFM and innovative technologies on the S&S of the open campus. Hence, future-proof facilities can be achieved when FM actively engages university communities in managing campuses through technological innovation.

Universities must build curricula that prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). However, given the pace of change, we cannot be certain of the attributes necessary to navigate the fourth industrial age (4IA). This chapter argues we can prepare graduates for this unknowable future through integrative, competence-based curricula, outlines how we conceptualize, design, teach and assess competence-based HE, and invest in those involved in teaching and learning at the University of Hull, UK.

To be competent is to have the necessary experience, knowledge and self-awareness to do something successfully. Competencies are “taught in practice and assessed in application” (Lawrence et al., 2020). Students learn by applying disciplinary knowledge to professional practice, where possible attending to live briefs or authentic teaching and assessment relevant to study, work and life. This has the potential to benefit the local region and students as they build educational, cultural and social capital.

To sustain the currency of competence-based HE, we work with the learning community (student sponsors, prospective, and current students, employers, and providers of voluntary and other services) in designing our programs of study. We facilitate mutual learning to design and deliver integrative curricula that are meaningful and relevant to all.

Driven by globalization and subsequent advancements in technology, higher education has experienced exponential growth in student enrolment and increased diversity in the student population. Among the major changes are new models of learning that have supported both onsite and remote learners for quality education. In response to these major changes in education, the processes, resources and services in library and information science have been redefined to meet the information needs of all users, anytime and anywhere. Historically, libraries shifted from being curators of knowledge to creators and disseminators of knowledge. This paper aims to address the path forward for academic libraries using as example, the Main Library at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus (UWI).

This paper explores the evolution of reference services, circulations, digitization, people engagement and how new technologies have fundamentally changed the way librarians at The UWI work. Of equal importance in this discussion of the future of academic libraries is students' ability to navigate the diverse ways in which they access resources and services. Finally, the interests, needs and the practical implications of artificial intelligence in academic libraries will be examined. This digital disruption poses both opportunities and challenges for academic libraries and students within the Caribbean in the 21st Century and beyond. A review of literature as well as a look at trends in academic libraries forms the basis of this discussion.

Library processes and services advanced from automation in the 1980s, internet and online facilities in the 1990s to web-based and consortia offerings in the 2000s rendering old models obsolete. Information products and the process of information sharing have reduced the focus on print collections and face to face interactions to fully online or hybrid offerings. What is evident is that Caribbean Libraries must continue to evolve or risk being left behind in this burgeoning technology age.

Often the Caribbean is overlooked when examining the impact and application of technology and the availability of resources to students and the wider society. This paper presents an opportunity to look at the unique status of Caribbean academic libraries, specifically The University of the West Indies Library System.