The Newspaper of Tomorrow
What it is
A short, creative foresight exercise. A team imagines their university a couple of years from now — as they would like it to be for equality, diversity and inclusion — and writes it up as the front page of a future newspaper, complete with headlines.
Picturing the win first makes priorities concrete and gives everyone a shared direction to plan towards. It is quick, inclusive, and gets every voice contributing.
When to use it
- You want a shared, motivating vision before you start planning.
- A group is stuck on problems and needs to picture what "better" actually looks like.
- You want an inclusive warm-up that gets everyone contributing quickly.
How to implement it
A simple three-step imagination exercise that ends with your top priorities.
- Picture it
Imagine
Picture your university in two years as you would like it to be for equality, diversity and non-discrimination.
You produce- A shared picture of the future you want
- Make it
Write the front page
Capture it as tomorrow’s newspaper — headlines, a lead story, small news items — on paper, slides or a shared board.
You produce- A "newspaper of tomorrow" with headlines
- Decide
Name your priorities
From the headlines, write down the three most important things you want to achieve — and why.
You produce- Three clear priorities, with reasons
A great way to open a Living Lab. The priorities it produces feed straight into your planning and dialogue methods.
- Living Labs Guidelines — to set up the lab this vision guides
- Action & Sustainability Plans — to turn the three priorities into action
- World Café — to explore the priorities with a wider group
Newspaper of Tomorrow Canvas
Fill this in as the front page of a future newspaper — the university you want to see. Print it at A3, or build it on a shared board.
Masthead & date
Your newspaper’s name and the future date (for example, two years from now).
Headline story
The biggest change you want to see — a bold headline and a short lead paragraph.
News: spaces & culture
A change in spaces, culture or everyday campus life.
News: teaching & voice
A change in teaching, participation or representation.
News: safety & belonging
A change in support, safety or a sense of belonging.
Quote of the day
A quote from a student or staff member living in this future.
Front-page photo
Describe (or sketch) the picture on the front page.
Priority 1
The first thing you want to achieve — and why.
Priority 2
The second — and why.
Priority 3
The third — and why.
How to facilitate a session
A guide to running a 60–90 minute Newspaper of Tomorrow session that ends with your team’s top three priorities.
1 Prepare
- Invite a mixed group of students and staff — about 5–15 people.
- Allow 60–90 minutes. Bring large paper, markers and sticky notes, or open a shared board.
- Optionally, read the one-page tool beforehand (see the resources on this page).
- Choose a facilitator and someone to capture the headlines.
2 Run the session
- 10 minSet the scene — the date is two years from now; imagine the university you want to see.
- 20 minBrainstorm headlines — first alone, then shared: what has changed for equality and inclusion?
- 25 minBuild the front page — arrange the headlines, add a lead story, a quote and a photo caption.
- 20 minChoose priorities — agree the three most important changes, and why each one matters.
- 10 minClose — read the newspaper aloud and photograph it.
3 Follow up
- Share the newspaper and the three priorities with everyone who took part.
- Carry the priorities into your Action Plan or your next session.
- Keep the newspaper visible — it is a reminder of the direction you chose.
4 Running it online
- Use a shared whiteboard with a newspaper template; each person adds headlines on sticky notes.
- Work in breakout rooms for small groups, then bring the headlines onto one shared page.
- Live polling helps the group pick the top three priorities quickly.
- Prefer privacy-respecting tools, and keep the board open for later additions.
Example of implementation from the Labs4Change project
In the context of TUDO, the methodology was applied through a creative foresight exercise called "The Newspaper of Tomorrow", in which participants imagined the university as they would like to see it in the future. This exercise generated a series of concrete visions and priorities that shaped the direction of the Living Lab. Participants envisioned TUDO as a university that implements more integrative measures of gender equality and non-discriminatory practices, where students are placed at the centre of transformative education. The exercise also surfaced a shared concern for better understanding student vulnerabilities and a commitment to creating solidarity structures between students and staff. These outcomes informed the subsequent Action Plan and Sustainability Plan, grounding the planning process in a collectively built vision of what a more equitable and student-centred university could look like.
This is a general exercise to help teams think strategically about their universities: what do we have and what do we need?
Explored the Labs4Change resources? Share your feedback
Your first impressions will help us improve the platform, Toolkit and other project outputs, and make them more useful and accessible for future users.
Resources & references
- Reference CHESS Action Manual — Change Hubs for Ecosystemic Social Solutions (2025) The manual the Newspaper of Tomorrow tool comes from (p.30).