Sustainable National Learning in Turbulent Times: The Role of Universities

PURPOSE OF THE PAPER:_ _This paper explores how sustainable national learning could be understood and developed in times of political and technological turbulency. METHODOLOGY: The starting points are the national needs of a country aspiring to be sustainable and how this should be supported by learning. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is used to construct the benchmark processes that do the right thing, in the right way over time. The part of Diagnosing in the Sustainability Opportunity Study (SOS) practice is used, in combination with the Process-Based System Model (PBSM) to provide ideas of opportunities and threats. The part of Analysing in the SOS is based on various change theories such as Parkinson’s law, disruptive innovation, functional stupidity and organisational agility reflecting on the situation in Sweden as a case. MAIN FINDINGS:_ _National learning can be divided into knowledge and competence. Universities have historically had a strong grip on both. However, like the church in Sweden has lost its monopoly on faith, universities might lose their monopoly on knowledge and competence based on the proposed law of: “From Good to Gone”. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The findings are indicative. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The SOS practice in combination with the PBSM could support national and university leaders in making sense of societal knowledge and competence management needs. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper shifts the unit of analysis from university needs cantered performance to national learning needs, highlighting a potential gap.