With the advent of the digital age, higher education is constantly evolving. Although the metaverse has been around for decades, it is only now gaining popularity. Data science and cybersecurity are also trends that have caught the attention of the IT world.
The exponential markets are Cybersecurity, data science, and the metaverse, with the global market for cybersecurity expected to reach around $370 billion by 2028, heightening at a CAGR of 12 percent from $153.16 billion in 2020, while the global data science market is contemplated to be worth slightly more than $80 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 11.1 percent and the global metaverse market is forecasted to increase at a CAGR of 41.7% from the period 2021 to 2030.
With these next big technologies and rapidly growing lucrative markets, it is critical for the reinvention of higher education for the future to shape it with advanced technologies such as data science, cybersecurity, and the metaverse.
What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, systems, and programs from malicious digital attacks. These attacks typically gain access to, alter, or destroy sensitive information to extort money or disrupt the flow of business, if any.
Cybersecurity in higher education will be critical because student and teacher data is sensitive and must be protected when all data is stored online. Attackers have developed many innovative ideas over the years, causing tension in the higher education system.
What is Data Science?
Data Science is a field that employs scientific methods and processes through the use of algorithms and systems. It draws insights and knowledge from structured and unstructured data. Data science applies the knowledge and insights gained from this data to take action across a wide range of application domains.
The techniques utilized by data science differ from the field of statistics, computer science, domain knowledge, and so on. The implementation of data science in higher education will greatly benefit the educational system. Data scientists’ future, easy plagiarism detection, and implementation in research work are some of the ways data science will improve the world in the future.
What is Metaverse?
The Metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds centered on social interaction. In previous years, the metaverse was popular in the fiction world, and it is now popular on a variety of virtual platforms. The term “metaverse” refers to technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality that aims to merge the physical and digital worlds.
Metaverse has created its own space in which even higher education has engaged in the development of educational technologies. Because of technological advancements and education classes being in a hybrid model, the metaverse will greatly benefit the education system by utilizing virtual and augmented reality.
Growing technologies and higher education
Higher education’s future is more focused on substantiation, with data science, metaverse, and cybersecurity solutions. The metaverse is even deeper in the expanding ecosystem of digital spaces, networks, and would impact our daily activities and communications in both the physical and virtual worlds. This contains implications for higher education due to the way learners access it, the way of information being generated, and the way learners communicate and connect.
Benefits of Data Science
Data science provides the benefit of making better decisions about each student and analyzing data for improving outcomes. Higher education has more possibility of being benefitted from constant real-time recommendations along with semi-structured and unstructured data to gain knowledge from the metaverse and aid in forecasting future outcomes.
Cybersecurity – an indispensable part of the digital world
Cybersecurity will aid in the securing of the metaverse to protect the metaverse and its data from vulnerability. In a decade, cybersecurity will be an essential component of higher education. With hackers loitering behind every window screen, technology behemoths would acquire higher education’s cybersecurity. This would anchor campus technologies and computing power in collaboration with higher education.
Constant technology upgradations
These technologies are still being developed and transformed to propel cybersecurity, data science, and the metaverse to new heights. Although these technologies have a steep learning curve for higher education, they are the future, and organizations must prepare adequately to navigate this new technological world.
