We Need More Robust Employer-Education Partnerships
Employers aren’t finding applicants with the right skill sets and jobs are going unfilled, even amidst a pandemic when there are so many in need of work. Study after study has identified a gap in what employers need in their workers and what they are finding in applicants. A 2018 report by the Strada Education Network and Gallup found that 57% of hiring managers are less than confident in their organizations ability to get the right talent. For employers, this means additional spending in development programs to bring employees to needed skill levels. For education institutions, this highlights a disconnect between what is being delivered in the classroom and actual marketplace needs. And for the student or prospective worker, this raises questions about the value and relevance of education offerings.
At the same time, employers highly value the skills obtained in a liberal arts education, such as leadership, problem solving, and communication, as reported in a 2018 study by EMSI and the Strada Education Network that explored the impact of a liberal arts education in the workplace. The same study, however, finds that liberal arts graduates often lack understanding on how to apply these skills in the workplace.
All of this is to say that there is a demonstrated need for more focused education and training in higher education today. In short, employers need better prepared workers. And students and workers want to be better prepared! In a 2018 study, the Strada Education Network in partnership with Gallup found that 65% of the American workforce without a bachelor’s degree (it is estimated that ⅔ of the American workforce do not have a college degree) feel they would benefit from further education.
In a 2017 study, Strada and Gallup reported that 51% of college alums would change what they studied in college based on workplace experience. This is an alarming statistic that shows that workers do not feel that their educational experience is relevant enough to the demands they face in the workplace.
At the same time that we see a higher demand for relevant education among employers and workers, higher education institutions are facing growing pressure to innovate, stay relevant, and attract students, especially right now as the pandemic has sending enrollments across the country spiking downward. A large part of an educational institution’s reputation and ability to attract students is based on their ability to prepare and place graduates in meaningful and successful careers. Success in doing so can also increase alumni engagement and continued financial support to the institution.
Taken together, these trends and data clearly identify a need for education and training that is more tailored to marketplace needs. It should be noted that this isn’t news to educational institutions. Having worked in universities throughout my career, I can attest to the many capable, dedicated staff and faculty members that are doing their best to address the need. Yet this challenge is not one that educational institutions can meet on their own.
We need a new level of relevance in educational programming through more robust education-employer partnerships.
There are many examples of existing partnerships between employers and educational institutions, such as internship programs, recruiting agreements, or research funding relationships. All of these play important roles, but fail to address important parts of the workforce needs gap.
The Hiring for Success study in 2018 found that current internship and co-op programs between companies and educational institutions are not meeting full potential, failing to close the gap between where graduates are at graduation and where companies need them to be.
For one, partnerships often focus on the end of a student’s educational experience (recruiting, internships, or even capstone projects) but fall short in impacting the actual student learning experience from the beginning. Consider the impact on the student experience if employers played a larger role in developing curriculum and program delivery from the first year of a student’s higher education experience. Think of how much more prepared a graduate would feel and actually be for the workforce if they were already working with that workforce in their educational program!
A 2017 study by Strada and Gallup found that planning ahead of enrollment increases success in college and in careers that follow. In other words, students that have a plan on how they intend to use their education after college find greater success in college and in their careers--they create their own career pathways.
In short, education-employer partnerships need to be more robust and start earlier on, thus creating career pathway options for students and workers. Here are three areas where such partnerships could focus:
Curriculum Collaboration: Bringing employers into the curriculum development process at educational institutions can greatly enhance the relevance of learning. Students benefit from experiential learning, a better understanding of the actual employment environment, and the requirements for success. Employers benefit from better-prepared prospective employees. This reduces the costs of new hire development programs and increases immediate value and contribution from new employees.
Pre-enrollment employer engagement: As noted above, studies find that education planning leads to more rewarding educational experiences for students, more engaged and successful students, and better prepared prospective employees in the workforce. Employers and institutions can partner at the recruiting and enrollment stage to help students answer and make plans around the the following career questions:
What does a given career look like?
What are the necessary skills?
What educational programs are the best fit?
What does a career path upon graduation look like?
Liberal Arts Application: As noted, companies need the skills that liberal arts students have, but there is a need for better application of those skills in the workplace. Education-employer partnerships can address this through providing experiential learning programs as well as access to the workplace. Students can practice application of skills to workplace environments throughout their learning experience instead of having to figure it out on the job following graduation.
Certainly, this is just the beginning of what can be accomplished through more robust employer-education partnerships.
For employers, such partnerships will provide a better-prepared workforce that can more immediately contribute and bring value to the company. Such a prepared workforce will also reduce the high cost of employee development programs.
For educational institutions, such partnerships will increase the attractiveness of program offerings. Program relevance will keep up with market demand. Career placement will improve, increasing student and alumni satisfaction, which will in turn enhance alumni engagement, support, and school rankings.
For students and prospective workers, these partnerships will help students better plan their education and lead to greater success in the workplace upon graduation.
Closing the needs gap is achievable through more robust education-employer partnerships. The time to act is now.
