Digital platforms now allow institutions in different regions to co-create learning content, test innovations in diverse contexts, and share outcomes in real time. This reduces duplication, increases relevance, and ensures that innovation reflects cultural, economic, and social diversity rather than a single dominant model, shared Mathieu Cooper, Creator, Merkabah Management Systems, Australia in an exclusive interview with Kaanchi Chawla of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts:
How do you envision the evolution of global education systems in the next decade, especially as they transition from traditional hierarchies to more integrated, purpose-driven frameworks like the Merkabah Management System?
Over the next decade, education will shift from being primarily content-centred and hierarchical to becoming capability-centred, networked, and purpose-driven. Traditional models have been excellent at transferring knowledge, but less effective at building the adaptive, ethical, and systems-level thinking now required in a rapidly changing world. Frameworks like Merkabah Management Systems are not replacements for existing institutions, but integrative layers that help align learning with real-world complexity. They support a move from linear curricula toward learning ecosystems, where learners develop technical competence alongside critical thinking, emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, and cross-disciplinary literacy.
Education will increasingly become a continuous, adaptive process embedded in work, community, and leadership. Curricula will no longer be static documents updated every few years, but living systems co-designed in real time with industry, educators, and learners, allowing institutions to respond quickly to technological change, workforce shifts, and emerging societal needs. The role of institutions will evolve from gatekeepers of knowledge to stewards of capability, coherence, and trust.
What role should global education leaders play in shaping policy frameworks that balance regulation with innovation in AI-enabled learning environments?
Education leaders have a responsibility to act as translators between innovation and governance. On one side is rapid technological change; on the other is the public’s need for safety, equity, transparency, and trust. Rather than reacting defensively to AI, leaders should proactively shape standards around responsible use, data governance, assessment integrity, and learner wellbeing. This includes co-creating frameworks with regulators, technologists, educators, and learners, not leaving policy formation solely to governments or vendors. The goal is not to slow innovation, but to ensure it remains human-centred, inclusive, and aligned with long-term societal benefit. Education leaders are uniquely positioned to hold that balance because they sit at the intersection of knowledge creation, workforce preparation, and social development.
Global education systems vary significantly in readiness for AI integration. What core capabilities should universities and vocational institutions prioritise to build future-ready graduates at scale?
The most important shift is from teaching tools to building capabilities. At scale, institutions should prioritise digital and AI literacy, not just how to use tools, but how to understand their limits, biases, and impacts.
They must also focus on systems thinking: the ability to understand interconnections between technology, society, the economy, and the environment; critical thinking and sense-making, so learners can evaluate information rather than simply consume it; ethical and civic literacy, ensuring graduates understand responsibility, privacy, and social consequences; and human skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and emotional intelligence.
These capabilities must be supported by strong learner-experience design, including personalised learning pathways, mentoring, wellbeing support, and career guidance. As learning becomes more flexible and technology-enabled, human support becomes more, not less, important.
I have worked directly on designing and delivering programs for regional learners, refugees, people with disabilities and diverse needs, parents returning to work, mature-aged workers, Indigenous communities, and young people at risk. These experiences have made it clear that while the intent of inclusion is strong, traditional delivery models are often too rigid, compliance-heavy, and slow to adapt to truly meet people where they are.
The next evolution of education must move beyond standardised pathways toward flexible, locally responsive, and culturally aware learning design, co-created with communities and employers, and supported by strong human facilitation rather than administrative control alone.
What international collaboration models do you believe hold the most promise for sharing best practices in education innovation (especially between Global North and Global South institutions)?
The most promising models are peer-based, reciprocal, and problem-driven rather than top-down or extractive. Effective collaboration looks like shared research platforms, open curriculum exchanges, joint pilot programs, and co-development of standards rather than unilateral “knowledge transfer.”
Digital platforms now allow institutions in different regions to co-create learning content, test innovations in diverse contexts, and share outcomes in real time. This reduces duplication, increases relevance, and ensures that innovation reflects cultural, economic, and social diversity rather than a single dominant model. True collaboration is not about exporting solutions, but about building shared learning ecosystems where knowledge flows in multiple directions.
Also Read: When AI Rewrites the World, Education Must Teach Us to Hold the Pen
As industries worldwide adapt to digital transformation, what educational models best prepare learners for careers that may not even exist yet?
The most effective models are modular, flexible, and deeply connected to industry, but structured as partnerships rather than pipelines. Education must be co-designed with employers so that learning pathways align with real workforce needs, while also protecting learner wellbeing, development, and long-term growth. This includes integrating formal education with work-integrated learning, apprenticeships, project-based collaboration, and continuous professional development, creating lifelong learning environments where people can learn, contribute, reflect, and evolve across different stages of their lives. These pathways should not end at first employment, but continue as industries, technologies, and societal needs change.
This approach also creates an opportunity to redesign education, so it genuinely serves those who have historically been marginalised by standard models, including regional communities, migrants and refugees, Indigenous learners, carers, and people re-entering the workforce, by aligning learning, support, and meaningful employment into a single, coherent pathway.
Ultimately, the true measure of success is not how many people are trained, but how many are supported to grow, contribute, and thrive over time. Education systems and industries share responsibility not only for skills development, but for human development, ensuring that technology, learning, and work evolve together in ways that serve people, communities, and the broader social good.
