Rethinking Higher Education: From Fixed Curricula to Learnity Graphs

Abstract

Higher education stands at a turning point. In an era where knowledge is increasingly accessible and which is, more often than not, mediated by advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), the value of traditional curricula models warrants reconsideration. This does not imply that one should replace thorough academic studies. Universities remain essential in providing foundational knowledge, theoretical depth and conceptual grounding. The challenge is to extend these educational facets with learning environments that foster creativity, interdisciplinary integration, hands-on experience, and especially long-term development. In this paper, we introduce a lifelong learning framework that integrates academic, professional, and personal learning, centered on a new concept that we term learnity graphs, a structured representation of learning as interconnected units of knowledge, skills, experience, and actual artifacts, coupled with a method for presenting, and leveraging it.