Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning 51 Years after Moore

Is there an equivalent of Moore's law that can be applied to human knowledge? As abstract and far-fetched as the question may sound, the search for answers is highly relevant in the current reality – also, and especially, for the University of Zurich. With its great diversity of disciplines, UZH can shed light on these questions from many different perspectives and translate them into a highly modern education and continuing education offerings.

A quick reminder: 51 years ago, on 19 April 1965 to be precise, Gordon Moore, co-founder of what is currently the largest manufacturer of semiconductors, Intel, published insights in the journal Electronics that became known as Moore's law: The number of components in an integrated circuit doubles every year. Despite various changes, the law applies to this day, currently predicting that processor performance will double every eighteen months.

Should human knowledge be keeping pace with such exponential growth? Can it? What happens if it can't? How do we make sure that vital existing knowledge is preserved amid the deluge of new questions, and that people of all ages benefit from it, for themselves and for all of society?

One of the possible answers to this question is continuing education and lifelong learning. Particularly with the need for knowledge growing so explosively, there's a risk that people will lose touch and see change as a threat, and that fear will become the prevailing mood. Knowledge gives you the confidence to master your own destiny and the challenges that emerge in your professional and private life.

There are few better places to acquire this knowledge than the University of Zurich. Everything Switzerland's largest institution of higher learning does revolves around learning, thinking, researching, and sharing the insights gained. As part of global research networks, the League of European Research Universities (LERU), and the European Lifelong Learning Program, the University currently offers around 100 prestigious continuing education programs. They're in great demand, thanks in no small part to the rapid and direct transfer of cutting-edge insights between UZH's continuing education programs and the rest of its educational offering."

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Siegert
Vice President Education and Student Affairs