SAN FRANCISCO – As the presidents of hundreds of small private institutions listened to Bay Area tech leaders discuss the future of the workforce at the Council of Independent Universities’ annual meeting last week, they asked the speakers their questions. revealed a longing for affirmation of the continuing values of the liberal arts and sciences.
“I haven’t heard about the transition from the liberal arts or the death of the liberal arts this morning,” said Daniel Lugo, president of Queen’s University in Charlotte and moderator of the session, addressing the three female executives on stage. said like this. he. “It sounds like you’re saying it’s really important to be more articulate and rebranded about how we market what we do.”
It’s certainly part of the equation, said Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health, which works with universities and companies to get workers into healthcare jobs. “It’s important to show students what they’re already learning,” she says, helping students understand what learning outcomes they’re achieving in their courses. Assist and enable them to be translated to future employers.
But in an era where employers base hiring decisions more on skills and knowledge than on degrees acquired by prospective workers, college graduates are increasingly being matched with candidates who have developed those competencies in other ways. It’s becoming competitive, says Katie. Her Ferrick, Senior Director of Workplace Programs at LinkedIn, said:
“When you hire based on skills, more opportunities open up for a fairer and more diverse workplace. there are more ways.”
In a more competitive environment, universities need to think in terms of “both,” say Ferrick and others. Offering a liberal arts-based four-year degree remains the best preparation for a lifetime career. Their curriculum features more practical digital and other skills that help graduates compete for their first jobs.
“Your institution can help students grow, discover, find purpose and passion while acquiring all kinds of skills along the way,” said Ferrick. increase.
For example, Ton-Quinlivan says that given the growth of telemedicine (and the continued reliance on telemedicine), it’s important for graduates looking to enter the healthcare field to be able to “function and collaborate in a virtual environment.” It is the responsibility of the university to do so. “If she had two candidates with the same conditions, [degree] If she can demonstrate that she can work in a virtual environment, they will get the job. ”
How do students with traditional residential education demonstrate their abilities? she asked. Ton-Quinlivan then answered her own question. Something that shows they have extra time or special expertise… it’s important to try these practices within your own environment in a way that makes sense to you. ”
This conversation was a highlight session of the Council of Independent Universities. Presidents Instituteand it represents a growing concern among college and university officials, especially liberal arts-oriented ones, about public and employer questions about the value of degrees in the humanities and social sciences. Any discussion of the crisis in the liberal arts must put an asterisk on the reality that people have ever experienced. with such rhetoric Over the decades – here is the link Article from 1971 Change magazine It was entitled “The Imminent Crisis of Liberal Arts Colleges.”
But with enrollment already leveling off ahead of an expected population decline, limited financial resources, and these thorny public questions, there’s plenty to worry about. And while the Chancellors here, who had expressed confidence in most of their public conversations, flocked to sessions with titles such as “Financially Sustainable Strategies for Smaller Universities,” they shared their thoughts with their peers. shared a more pessimistic view in one-on-one conversations (and off-the-record discussions) with journalists.
They have not been shy about expressing concern about what students (and parents) are hearing about the value of going to college, especially to institutions like theirs.
“In the area where I live, people are discouraged from getting a college degree or told to go to other kinds of skill-based schools,” said Pamela Gunter-Smith, president of York University in Pennsylvania. They are broken,” he said. Introduce alternate credential questions to panelists in employee conversations. (York County was easily won by Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 state Senate election.)
In response to the mention of “skills-based hiring” in the workforce session, another audience member said that the applicant tracking systems companies use to hire provide clear evidence of technical and technical competence. I nervously asked if the missing people were left out early in the process. Other “difficult” skills required for specific positions.
In general, corporate leaders believe that the company must be equipped with communication, critical thinking and other “soft” skills (or “people” orpower skill— make your choice) what these institutions still emphasize.
Cinthia Lopez, director of talent outreach at Google, said as many tech companies like her “grow”, the need for many non-technical roles in areas such as project management, marketing and human resources grows. and created many opportunities for problem workers. -Solving skills, leadership traits, and ‘endless curiosity’.
Ton-Quinlivan said Futuro Health has developed a curriculum to prepare people to work in health information technology, so learners are taking a series of courses designed to develop it. 6 core interpersonal skills before taking a technical course.
Lopez also said Google employs far more employees with two- or four-year degrees than the “hundreds” who only have qualifications and industry certifications. It reassured university leaders.
“The desire to pursue a college degree will continue to grow,” she said. “I’m still a big believer.”
However, much work is still needed to bring more hands-on experience and skill development into the general education and liberal arts curricula (Can’t today’s college graduates create pivot tables in Microsoft Excel? ? Can’t you create data visualizations in Tableau?).
“How do you incorporate these skill sets, industry-recognized credentials into your curriculum experience?” Tong Quinlivan said. (She conceded that this may also require retraining of teachers.)
Liberal arts colleges would also be wise to incorporate into their course descriptions, assessments and transcripts the skills students have acquired through their academic experience – the dreaded “learning outcomes,” business leaders said. I’m here.
“You should ask, ‘What skills did they learn from that?’ Use more skill-based language,” says Ferrick of LinkedIn. This equips learners with a language they themselves can use to market themselves to employers, putting those learners on the radar screen of recruiters who use keywords to screen applicants. She said she could let me in.
“This is not about creating new programs in college, but about helping students and faculty understand how to connect the dots between what they are learning and the skills they are acquiring.
Universities that do not move in this direction may continue to experience declining enrollments, Ton-Quinlivan said, adding that at least some of the recent decline is due to student complaints about the lack of practicality in postsecondary education. I think it is caused by “They want an ‘and’.”
