Higher education at the crossroads: What it takes to lead in an era of disruption

This is the era of the industrial revolution; an era where disruptive technologies reign. Challenges within higher education have come to a crossroads due to disruptive technologies, 21st-century skills, globalization, and global competition. Thus, higher education needs to be redeveloped to improve the educational system in the era of disruption. The method used in this research is a qualitative method that consists of the study of literature in the field. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, that are challenging education and to rethink the way to design educational products, satisfy customers, and generate revenue for higher education to reap bottom-line benefits. To reinvent higher education, this research suggests that the management and the educators at higher education embrace a culture that promotes constant transformation, invest in manpower that will play a strategic role in managing disruption, and design workspaces that inspire creativity for the educators and the students as well as lead their innovation. This research incorporates the triple bottom line theory, introduced to measure performance. The theory's idea is to promote sustainability as well as gain profits from business ventures. Thus, higher education is to be viewed as a business venture, and its human capital (manpower and students) needs to be sustained in a sustainable environment. This research outlines how we should manage and utilize disruptive technologies against human capital to reap benefits in higher education and achieve bottom-line benefits.