Traditional universities were slammed for their "static, frozen'' methods of education yesterday during an international conference at Bermuda College.

Keynote speaker Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott said traditional, or tertiary, universities were not correctly addressing the "multi-tasking youth'' -- setting the stage for a conference that could shape the future of Bermuda College.

"Today's children -- including my own and their offspring -- surf two or three television channels, while reading a magazine or navigating the Internet and talking on the phone simultaneously to three or more friends, she said.

"Annoyingly, they seem able to keep track of what is happening on all these fronts and answer the question with which I interrupt them.

"Of course, they would be restlessly bored to tears by a 50-minute lecture delivered in a monotone and read from rustling notes.'' Dr. Scott, President and Vice-Chancellor of University College, Cape Breton, Canada, opened the University College conference attended by 14 experts in the field of education.

She said the development of a university college is a new evolution in education but requires support.

"`It is true politicians and bureaucrats understand very thoroughly that the present tertiary system is not "delivering the goods'', they deem citizens and communities to require.

"But they usually believe this situation will change, if they can only introduce enough specific incentives and punishments to make universities and colleges work harder and faster and be a little more sensitive to others' needs.

"They don't see that there is a fundamental problem with the design of the model.'' The problem, said Dr. Scott, is an "elitism'' attached to higher education that often shapes the mind-set of the individual.

"Doctors, lawyers, engineers and social workers are taught more than the tools of their trade in their professional degree programmes, they are taught to think like doctors, lawyers and social workers.

"The goals of this kind of knowledge -- in the old paradigm of learning -- were fairly simple.

"Knowledge and power were for the few, who resided at the top of a spiritual, economic and social hierarchy.'' Dr. Scott believes there is a "mismatch'' between traditional models and the context of our time -- and that the university college is a way for bridging to new realities.

"University colleges need to design, provide, broker and celebrate learning which includes theoretical concepts, best practices, how-to skills, generic work practices, values clarification, and infuses our creative spirits with inspiration and awe.

"We need to directly facilitate the creation and testing of knowledge among learners, mentors and practice communities.'' "Just tune into a learning channel or the Internet any time, and you know that expert knowledge is no longer the exclusive property of Professor Snodgrass and his colleagues.'' COLLEGE EDC