What is expected of a graduate of the 21st century and how does the university play a role in contributing to a successful

outcome? The first decade of the 21st century is over. The growth in collective scientifi c knowledge during the last century has paved the way for immense technological, medical and also social advances which do not show any signs of stopping. On th e other hand, however, there are also many issues that cannot be overlooked. Thu s the society has come to a point with several different scenarios for the futur e. The choice is in the hands of the graduates of the 21st century. What are the expectations for the graduates of the 21st century and what role does the unive rsity play in contributing to a successful outcome? To begin with, as mentioned, almost all fields of life have advanced like never before over the last century. The modern world has grown to its current state mo stly powered by fossil fuels. There are exceptions, such as the Kingdom of Bhuta n, which almost exclusively uses hydropower but countries with massive industrie s, however, rely mostly on crude oil and its derivatives. Unfortunately the oil supplies are generally thought to last for about another 50 years. While more em phasis is put on green energy, such as solar-, wind-, and hydropower, the questi on remains. What happens, when we finally run out of oil? This question is of ut most importance and the solutions have to be found before we reach the necessity to apply them. Besides the inevitable oil issue, there are problems involving the scarcity of o ther resources such as food, fresh water, and living space, but also potential c onflicts between the larger producers and probably even on international level c oncerning the usage of all of these resources. Those and several other issues ha ve to be taken into consideration and possibly prevented in order to guarantee t he safer future for everyone. That is why we need young innovative people with t he awareness of the problems and the will to solve them. On the other hand, there are not only problems in the 21st century. Prog ress can lead not only to catastrophes but to great discoveries beneficial for u s all. Recent breakthroughs in biology and medicine have helped us understand ma ny questions so far unanswered. We are able to gain more information about our o rigin and evolution into what we are now. Also how and why our organisms work th e way they do. We have developed vaccines and cures for diseases which were clai med incurable. Advances in particle physics have increased our understanding of the universe itself. Nanotechnology has helped us produce new materials and more powerful computers. Luckily, every question science finds an answer to raises a dozen new ones. We owe all of that to the graduates of previous generations. Us ing their knowledge, the graduates of today will develop even further and make e ven greater discoveries. The fact is that now is the chance for the graduates of this century. In my opinion, the greatest expectation for us is to be strong, determined, versat ile, intelligent and most of all, unified. It is clear, that everyone will not, and cannot, become a scientist, a politician, an ideologist, a writer or an acti vist. The ones who do must be excellent. The world needs a reliable group of peo ple on all fields. These people have to be flexible, but cannot be easily influe nced by the majorities. They must be individual, but able to cooperate. They nee d to have a clear mission, but have to be able to consider the alternatives. Thi s complex combination of qualities is what should be enforced by universities. The role that the university plays is irrefutably significant. However, without proper domestic upbringing, previous education starting from kindergarten and mo st of all passion, the university can be rendered useless. Given that school has provided enough to raise a great interest in a certain topic, it is the task of the university to guide the student and perfect his or her skills. The universi ty is also the place where one can encounter most of his or her propelling force s. These may be friends, who may become future associates, or opponents, who cou ld influence you to develop your views even further in order to prove them wrong . Most of the universities today have very strict programmes. The strictne ss is definitely important for already specialised learners but not for all. Man

y of the revolutionary ideas of today come from people with remarkable education al history including degrees on various different fields. Is it always necessary ? If students were given more freedom of choice, they could compose their own pr ogrammes and therefore integrate subjects which usually do not meet but can prov e to complement one another in ways that are not classically considered. For exa mple combining design and architecture with natural sciences has lead to the inn ovative ideas using shapes, models, structures and designs directly from nature itself. If only more universities encouraged this way of learning, the role the play would be even greater Taking all of the above into consideration, this may be the last century for a change. We may not get another chance to make things better. It is the ce ntury of biology, the internet, three-dimensional movies, borderless travelling, portable media devices, wireless services, space exploration, nanotechnology et c. The list goes on. It also is the century of endless opportunities. The expect ations for the graduate of the 21st century are full of responsibilities. The fu ture graduates must strive for excellence and perfection at the same time being open minded and flexible. Unfortunately the growing trend is not to pursue highe r education but find a job and start working as soon as possible. With ever grow ing knowledge of what surrounds us, as well as what are we made of, there should be a vast amount of options available for each and every one of us. With an alm ost entirely open world full of universities to get us started, there should not be any trouble finding a suitable field of work, environment or colleagues. Har nessing the knowledge gained by the previous generations and finding solutions t o the problems caused by them are expected of this generation of graduates. Koit-Romet Rahupld