Observing the future of learning in the Cyberpunk City

We visit Haaga-Helia’s partner university Chongqing University of Science and Technology on a biannual basis. During our visit in October 2025, we observed that students are more dependent on their mobile devices than ever before. We felt moments of despair with the increased digital presence. Yet, we remained committed to our mission: teaching future skills in a futuristic city, a surreal landscape that feels straight out of science fiction. Was our effort destined to fail? Let’s find out.

Future skills to the students of the futuristic city

Once a year, we introduce Chongqing students to a service design method of design sprint. We have several years of experience of how the method advances transversal skills, or in other words, the magical 4 Cs – communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking/complex problem-solving, both online and in-person (see our article Remote Design Sprint – A Case Study of Learning the 21st Century Skills Online). According to the World Economic Forum (2025), the 4Cs are increasingly in demand in the future of work.

We are also fully aware that we were visiting a city that has become viral through social media since the pandemic. Just being in the city, feels like entering the future. Chongqing is often called the Cyberpunk City and it is known for its futuristic architecture and spectacular urban setting (Yang & Tayir 2025). Also its inhabitants are very tech-savvy and go nowhere and do nothing without their mobiles.

Haaga-Helia is known for its flexible and versatile pedagogical solutions and experiential learning methods. Many of them are based on design thinking and service design. Sprints, canvases and maps are used to enhance collaboration and focus on the customer. The tools help students to train their transversal skills. After all, Haaga-Helia’s (s.a.) pedagogical vision is founded on dynamic competence, always applying the latest research into learning. We collaborate closely with businesses and apply the same tools and methods used in industry.

Collaboration with human brains and AI-powered mobiles

The design sprint (Knapp, Zeratsky & Kowitz 2016) has a clear format and process that we follow with the students. It is a flexible technique, but we prefer to keep the process according to the plan to make it clear for the students to follow. We trust the process and know that the method works. So far, we have always received interesting results for the challenges – and have no reason to doubt it will be the case this time, too.

We started off our sprint week with a team-building excercise we call Flower Power, where students design a flower together with their team. First, each takes one petal and writes their strength on it. Then, they present their petal to everyone and find something they have in common and write it in the middle. The flower is then used for the team name, roles and identity. The flowers with colourful papers and creative designs make an inspiring backdrop for the design sprint. The students took eagerly part in this creative exercise.

Naturally, there were instances during the week when we got slightly worried. The students were extremely attached to their mobiles. For example, during a creative team-building activity, The Marshmallow Challenge – when students were equipped with a one-metre thread and masking tape, raw spaghetti and a marshmallow to be creative, to build and compete for the tallest free-standing structure – they initiated the activity by checking for solutions from their mobiles and AI, without reflecting on the challenge first.

Another phenomenon that bothered us was the students’ excessive reliance on mobiles for translation. The students in the Cyberpunk City trusted their AI translators instead of practising phrases and speaking without digital aides. For us, it looked like they were not putting an effort into learning the language. There were exceptions, though, and we certainly appreciated them.

Against the above, WEF (2025) states that human skills and people skills are becoming vital. Transversal skills such as leadership, social influence, empathy, active listening, creativity, resilience, and flexibility are growing in importance. If students want to thrive in the future of work, they need to amplify their human qualities.

Student reflections on learning

At Haaga-Helia, reflection and feedback are integral to every learning method we use. During the design sprint week we invited students to share the most important thing they learned. This time, each student wrote their reflections on post-it notes, placed them on individual flower petals, and presented their thoughts to the group at the end of the week.

One of the most common themes was the appreciation for the structured process of the design sprint. Students valued the step-by-step approach, which provided clarity and direction throughout the week. They also recognized the importance of self-leadership, especially when their attention spans are often as short as a TikTok or Douyin video. Our sessions began in the afternoon and continued late into the evening, requiring students to maintain focus and work intensively for extended periods—a skill that will serve them well in future professional settings.

Several students highlighted the practical relevance of the tools they learned, noting that these methods are widely used in companies. They appreciated working on the marketing challenge commissioned by Haaga-Helia’s commercial services, which allowed them to think independently and take initiative. However, the most frequent comments centered on teamwork. One student captured this perfectly: One person’s strength is very small; the team is very powerful. Students emphasized learning to collaborate, leverage diverse skills—such as drawing, sketching, digital expertise, and communication—and make progress together.

Communication skills also stood out. Many students mentioned improving their ability to listen, read, write, and speak, also in English. Creativity and visual expression were equally important. Critical thinking and problem-solving were also noted, as students learned to approach challenges from multiple angles.

One poetic reflection summed up the experience beautifully: I learned how to put a heavenly horse’s empty mind into the ground—a metaphor for grounding abstract ideas and managing creativity. Overall, the students demonstrated impressive depth in their written reflections, even though they translated their thoughts from Chinese to English.

In conclusion, not all is lost—perhaps the students do not learn all the things the supervisors want. However, they do learn important skills for the future of work. One of the Chinese supervisors mentioned that when mixed with others, the students from this particular study programme often gain team leader positions due to being used to working in groups during the studies and being in charge.

Again, after the latest stint of teaching in the Cyberpunk City Chongqing, we feel that the future is there already. At least the students have a new set of skills to make them thrive there.

Picture: Shutterstock