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The headline “University of Houston one of twelve places in the world that offers degree in Foresight …” recently appeared in a local Community Impact newspaper. This story resulted from a recent feature of our Foresight program in the UH magazine.
Introducing people to the formal study of the future is a key part of what we do at the University of Houston Foresight program. We know from direct experience that our students “stumble upon” foresight one day and realize “that’s it!” So we need to be out there as much as we can providing the opportunities for people to stumble upon us.
But that is the long way. Picking up a few people here and there is nice, but we need to do better — the world needs more high-quality foresight! It is a hope of mine that as a field we will decide to mobilize around getting the word out about foresight in a big way. There have been some steps in this direction. The development of a Foresight Competency Model by APF, for instance, helps us share with new folks what the basics of foresight work are. The World Futures Studies Federation recently launched an Accreditation Council for academic programs. Peter Bishop has been beating down the doors across the country and the world to introduce futures thinking with his Teach the Future Foundation. Jerry Glenn has built an amazing global network with his Millennium Project. The recent Dubai Future Forum talked about starting a new global organization to fill the void left by the old World Future Society.
So, things are happening, but slowly. Perhaps we will see the day when people don’t have to stumble into the future, because futures thinking is embedded everywhere. — Andy Hines
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