Attainment & Innovation

Which segment of the four-year degree is supposed to enhance students’ employable skills and prepare them for a job? Most would probably think, the courses in their degree major. But increasingly, employers are saying they can train employees in the specialized technical skills associated with their jobs. It’s the intangible skills that they hope will be taught by colleges and universities.

Does the acceptance of prior learning actually lead to less or more revenue for colleges and universities? We don’t know yet, because no one has really researched the impact on institutions’ bottom lines. This research, while not easy, is necessary, writes Deborah Seymour.

More than 36 million adults between 25 and 64 years of age have completed some college, but don’t have a degree. Further, there are 44.5 million American adults with high school diplomas, but no college experience. Cathy Sandeen identifies a few emerging trends institutions might consider in their quest to serve this massive market of non-traditional students.

The higher education community is well aware of the evolving demographic, economic and technological forces presenting both challenges and opportunities to colleges and universities. But one less-noticed but increasingly powerful driver of higher education change is the concept of consumerism. Cathy Sandeen writes on how the demand for more information is shaping the 21st century college campus.

“I’d aspired to give people a profound education—to teach them something substantial…but the data was at odds with this idea,” declared Sebastian Thrun, founder of the Silicon Valley MOOC platform Udacity in a recent Fast Company article. But if you have been tracking Thrun’s work over the past year, you will see his statement as nothing terribly new, writes Cathy Sandeen.

Digital badges. Verified certificates. Alternative credentials. More and more people are finding new ways—outside of traditional postsecondary degree programs—to show employers they possess the skills and knowledge needed for a constantly changing workplace, writes Cathy Sandeen.