Employers are Raising the Bar:
What They Need and Expect in a WellPrepared College Graduate
WASC Academic Resource Conference
As Others See Us: Education 360
April 23-25, 2014
Dr. Carol Geary Schneider
Mr. Roberts T. Jones
The Standards and Applications
of ‘Every Field of Endeavor’ Are
Evolving Faster Than Education
Systems Can Adapt!
Roberts T. Jones, President and Founder, Education Workforce
Policy, LLP and Member of the LEAP National Leadership Council
#1 World Population is Changing
• Population Developing Nations 9 Times
Developed World by 2025
• Younger
• Increased Literacy
• Growth in P/S Education
• Growth in Higher Education
US Population is Changing
• Demographics
• Slow Population Growth
• 0.9% per year
• 0.7% by 2030
• Slow Labor Force Growth
• 0.08% per year
• Increased Percentage of Older Population
• Fewer Younger People Entering Workforce
• Core Workforce Age Group is Declining
• US Economic Growth Will Depend on Fewer
Workers…And Increased Productivity!!!
World and US Population Are
Changing…
2000
2020
2040
Age
0-19
28.5%
26.4%
25.9%

20-64
59.0%
57.2%
53.6%

65+
12.4%
16.3%
20.4%

Potential HS Grad
2008
3.32 Mil
2022
3.36 Mil
BLS/DOC
Knocking At the College Door: 2008
#2 World of Work is Changing!
Size of Business Shrinking
 Size of New Startups Fell..
– 1990’s
7.6
– 2001
6.8
– 2007
4.7
 Establishment Size Shrinking..
– 2000
17.5
– 2005
16.4
– 2011
15.7
 Firms of…
– 500-999
– 1,000+
1994
7.0%
12.3%
2007
6.7%
10.5%
BLS/MLR--BoC/QCEW
#2 World of Work is Changing!
Careers, Skills, and Tenure Changing…
 50% of Workers Have Been With Company Less Than 5
Years
– 25% Less than 1 Year
 WkF Age
35-44
45-54
55-64
1996
5.3
8.3
10.2
2010
5.1
7.8
10.0
2016
?
?
?
 Every year, more than 1/3 of the entire US labor force
changes jobs.
 Half Life of Industries, Companies, Jobs, and Skills
Decreasing
BLS 9/10
#2 World of Work is Changing!
Careers, Skills, and Tenure Changing… (cont.)
 Breadth, Depth, & Application of Skills are Expanding
 Breadth and Level of Academic & Technical Prep is
Increasing
 Every year, 30 million Americans are working in jobs
that did not exist in the previous quarter.
BLS 9/10
World of Work is Changing!
 40% Workforce Retires in Next 5 Years
 32 States Project Shortage of Degreed Wkfc
–
8 Mill Nat Shortage of Certs/AA/BA By 2018
• 3 Million College Grads
– 16 Mill By 2025
» Labor Shortage of 21 million in 2020
Health Care
Engineers
Energy
Transportation
Manufacturing
Technology
Teachers
Accountants
Government
Geospatial
DOL/BLS
Employer Expectations…
 Competitive Advantage by 2020
– 95% Skills of Workforce
– 92% Cross-functional Application
 Greatest Workforce Growth
– 90% Complex Knowledge-Based Role
– 85% Developed Communication & Judgment
 Major Change in Next 20 years
– 95% Point to Highly Skilled Workforce
 Degrees or Competencies?
– 90 % of Employers say ‘specific skills and abilities of applicants
more important than type of Degree’
Economist Survey
*Gallup Poll
Students are Underprepared
Only 11% of Business Leaders strongly agree that graduates
have the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in
the workplace.
While 96% of academic officers believe they are effectively
preparing students for success in the workplace
Economist Survey
*Gallup Poll
What Employers Need from
Today’s College Graduates
Overview
• It Takes More than a Major (Hart Research
Associates, 2013) – Employers’ Views on
College Learning and the Economy
• AAC&U’s LEAP Initiative—Liberal Education
and America’s Promise
• Making Quality a Shared Priority: The LEAP
Employer-Educator Compact
About LEAP
Launched in 2005, Liberal Education and
America’s Promise (LEAP) is AAC&U’s
signature national initiative to champion the
importance of a twenty-first-century liberal
education—for individual students and for a
nation dependent on economic creativity and
democratic vitality.
LEAP Promotes
Essential Learning Outcomes
A Guiding Vision and National Benchmarks for College Learning and Liberal
Education in the 21st Century
High Impact Practices
Helping Students Achieve the Essential Learning Outcomes
Authentic Assessments of Student Learning
Probing Whether Students Can APPLY Their Learning – to Complex Problems
and Real-World Challenges
Inclusive Excellence
Diversity, Equity, Quality of Learning for All Students
The LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes
• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and
Natural World
Focused on engagement with big questions, enduring and
contemporary
• Intellectual and Practical Skills
Practiced extensively across the curriculum, in the context of
progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards
for performance
• Personal and Social Responsibility
Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities
and real-world challenges
• Integrative and Applied Learning
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and
responsibilities to new settings and complex problems
The Degree Qualifications
Profile (DQP)
See handout.
The DQP includes all the learning outcomes
that LEAP recommends—and further shows
how these outcomes can be developed and
demonstrated at the associates’, bachelors’ and
masters’ degree levels.
The LEAP Dialogue with
Employers
-Employer Advisors
-Employer Forums
-Employer Focus Groups
-Employer Research
What Employers Told AAC&U Informally…
• We DON’T Want Graduates Who are Locked
Into Mental Cubicles
We Are Changing Rapidly and if Our Employees
Can’t Adapt, They Will Be Left Behind
• We DO Want Graduates Who Have That 360°
Perspective
• We Especially Need Graduates Who Can Apply
Their Learning to Complex Problems and New
Contexts
National Surveys of Employers on College Learning and
Graduates’ Work Readiness
AAC&U commissioned Hart Research Associates (in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2013) to interview employers (C-level suite executives and,
in 2009 additional human resource professionals) whose companies report that hiring relatively large numbers of college graduates
How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy?
(AAC&U, 2007)
How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? Employers’ Views on
the Accountability Challenge (AAC&U, 2008)
Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the
Economic Downturn (AAC&U, 2010)
It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student
Success (AAC&U, 2013)
See: www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research
HART
RESEARCH
A S SOC I A T ES
It Takes More Than A Major:
Employer Priorities for College Learning
and Student Success
Key findings from survey among 318 employers
Conducted January 9 – 13, 2013
for
Employers Are Raising the Bar
 92% of employers say that “innovation is essential to
our company’s continued success.”
 91% of employers say that “the challenges their
employees face are more complex than they
were in the past.”
 93% of employers say that they are “asking
employees to take on more responsibilities and
to use a broader set of skills than in the past.”
Source: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student
Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)
Employers Say Innovation, Critical Thinking, and
a Broad Skill Set are Key for Meeting Challenges
in the Workplace
 95% of employers agree that their companies put a priority
on hiring people with the intellectual and interpersonal
skills to help them contribute to innovation in the
workplace
 93% of employers say that candidates’ demonstrated
capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve
complex problems is more important than their
undergraduate major
 91% of employers say that, whatever their major, all
students should have experiences in solving problems with
colleagues whose views are different from their own
Source: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student
Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)
Employers Value Cross-Cutting Capacities When
Making Hiring Decisions
“Very important/fairly important that our employees
have this quality/skill”
 Ethical judgment and integrity – 96%
 Comfortable working with colleagues, customers,
and/or clients from diverse cultural backgrounds – 96%
 Demonstrated capacity for professional development
and continued new learning – 94%
 Interest in giving back to the communities in which
their companies are located or those that they serve –
71%
Source: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student
Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)
Key Capabilities Open the Door for Career
Success and Earnings
“Irrespective of college major or
institutional selectivity, what matters to
career success is students’ development of a
broad set of cross-cutting capacities…”
Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University
Center on Education and the Workforce
Majorities of Employers Want Colleges to Place
MORE EMPHASIS on Broad, Cross-Cutting Skills
and Applications
 Critical thinking/analytical reasoning
 Ability to analyze/solve complex problems
 Effective oral communication
 Effective written communication
 Apply knowledge/skills to real-world settings
 Locate, organize, evaluate info from multiple sources
 Innovation/creativity
 Teamwork/collaboration in diverse group settings
 Ethical decision-making
Source: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student
Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)
82%
81%
80%
80%
78%
72%
71%
67%
64%
Employers endorse several high-impact practices
Percentage of Employers Who Say Practice Will Help Students A Lot or A
Fair Amount to Succeed in the Workplace
Research and Evidence-Based Analysis
83%
Expecting students to develop the skills to research questions in their field and develop
evidence-based analyses
Senior Projects
79%
Students complete significant project before graduation, demonstrating knowledge in major &
analytical, problem-solving, communication skills
Internships and Community-Based Work
78%
Students complete internship or community-based field project to connect classroom learning
with real-world experiences
Collaborative Research
74%
Expecting students to develop the skills to conduct research collaboratively with their peers
It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for
Narrow Learning is Rejected
Which is more important for recent college graduates who want to
pursue advancement and long-term career success at your company?
Having both field-specific knowledge and skills AND a
broad range of skills and knowledge
55%
Having a range of skills and knowledge that apply to a
range of fields or positions
29%
Having knowledge and skills that apply to a specific field or
position
16%
It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for
Broad Learning is Expected –
80% Say All Students Should
Have Broad Learning in the
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Three in four employers would recommend the
concept of a liberal education to their own child or a
young person they know
If you were advising your child or a young person you know about the type of college education
they should seek to achieve in order to achieve professional and career success in today's global
economy, would you recommend they pursue an education like the one described below?
74%
“This approach to a college education
provides both broad knowledge in a
variety of areas of study and knowledge in
a specific major or field of interest. It also
helps students develop a sense of social
responsibility, as well as intellectual and
practical skills that span all areas of study,
such as communication, analytical, and
problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated
ability to apply knowledge and skills in
real-world settings."
I would
advise a
young person
to pursue
[a liberal
education]
19%
7%
Depends
Would not
It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for
BUT, As We Know from Earlier Hart
Research Surveys and Myriad Other Studies,
Many Employers Report that Too Many
Graduates Fall Short on Key Learning
Outcomes, such as…
 Critical Thinking
 Writing
 Teamwork and Collaboration
 Global Knowledge
 STEM Knowledge
In Other Words, Employers Seek
and Reward the LEAP Essential
Learning Outcomes – But Often
Find Them in Short Supply
Making Quality a Shared Priority
The Employer-Educator
Compact
-Helps Students Understand the
Learning Needed for Career Success
-Creates Strong Connections Among
the Curriculum, the Economy, and
the Community
Our Shared Goal is Wider
Understanding that Increases in
Access and Completion are
Necessary, but Far From
Sufficient
The Ultimate Goal is World-Class
College Learning – for All
Students, for a Flourishing
Economy, and for Our Globally
Engaged Democracy
New Ecology of Learning…
As Higher Ed Rises to the Challenge
 Does Not Mean…
– Focusing Higher Education on Career and Technical
Education
– Preparing Students for Only ‘Employers’
– Ceding Education to Business
– Abandoning Tradition of ‘Liberal Education’
As Higher Ed Rises to the Challenge…
 Does Mean…
– Higher Education Establishing Single ‘Track’ System with
Multiple Learning Options
– Enriching Curriculum to Reflect Broader, Technical,
Economic, Scientific, Ethical, and Global Applications
– Preparing Students With ‘Adaptive Skills’ to Succeed in a
Constantly Changing Environment
– Integrating Applied Learning in Every Degree
“T” Shaped Professionals
 Refers to an individual with a deep knowledge of
his/her discipline…
…but also the breadth of skills and knowledge
that allow the individual to understand how one
discipline interacts with others and contributes to
multiple dimensions and institutional operations.
 In contrast to the “I”-shaped professional who
specializes in one field and whose skills may come to
be devalued following changes in technology,
application, or market conditions.
Requires New Quality Assurance…
Continuous Improvement
 Content and Standards for Every Academic Field Will
Continue to Evolve at Accelerated Rates
 The Need for Constant Change in Curriculum,
Achievement Standards, Assessments, Remediation,
and Faculty Will Be Permanent
Institutions Must Develop a Culture and a Process for
Continuous Improvement
…Requires New Quality Assurance…
External Partnerships
 Formal Linkages with Professional/Industrial
Associations
 Exchange of Professors and Executives
 Formal Scheduled Surveys of Academic, Technical,
and Citizenship Standards
 Feedback on Graduate Proficiencies from Employers
and Alumni
 Transparent Communication with Public and Policy
Makers
Evolving Model:
University-Employer Partnerships
 AAC&U Employer-Educator Compact
– 270 University and Business Leaders Formally Partner On:
•
•
•
•









Curriculum
Student Research
Applied Learning
Internships
Business Roundtable
US Chamber of Commerce
Committee for Economic Development
Competitiveness Council
Northrop Grumman/University of Maryland
IBM/Ohio State
Cal State Northridge/Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Drake University/Meredith Corp.
Eastern Connecticut State University/Cigna Corp.