School isn’t what it used to be.  Higher education is changing dramatically.  As barriers to information and human connection dissolve, institutions that once existed as the sole means of connecting people to learn find themselves evolving .  Activity and thought once silo’d within universities are increasingly present on a global, collaborative stage.  Everything we think about education, research and collaboration is changing.

That’s what they’ll be thinking about early this week at the Delange Conference VIII – The Future of the Research University in a Global Age at Rice University.  Delange is a forum for educational leaders and visionaries to contemplate the evolving ecosystem of research universities in the global age.

This conference offers a powerful lineup of speakers including:

• Paul Yock, Martha Meier Weiland Professor of Medicine and BioEngineering; Director, Biodesign, Stanford University, “Setting the Stage for Collaborative Innovation in Global MedTech”
• Charles Vest, President Emeritus, MIT, “Openness, Brain integration, and the Meta University”
• John Seely Brown, Visiting Scholar, University of Southern California, Co-Chairman, Deloitte Center for the Edge.  “New Models of Learning, New Modes of Engagement – Cultivating Resilient Learners, Designers, and Researchers for the 21st Century”
• Cathy Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University, “The Future of Learning”  (I’m told that I’ll have a few minutes to interview Davidson about her new book, Now You See It.  This book is amazing, by the way.  Look for our exchange here early next week)

I’ll be at DeLange in person and chiming in on Twitter at #DeLange8. What’s cool is that you can watch the webcast for nothing.  This is a remarkable opportunity to tune in on some big thinking around the future of education.

Now let’s think about a similar meeting on the future of medical education.

The De Lange Conferences are made possible by an endowment established at Rice University by C. M. and Demaris Hudspeth in memory of Demaris’ parents, Albert and Demaris De Lange.