Employers are Raising the Bar:What the 21st Century Global Economy

Needs from Higher Education…and from College Graduates

New England Employer-Educator ForumOctober 28, 2013

Boston, MA

• AAC&U’s LEAP Initiative—Liberal Education and America’s Promise

• It Takes More than a Major (Hart Research Associates, 2013) – Employers’ Views on College Learning and the Economy

• Making Quality a Shared Priority: The LEAP Employer-Educator Compact

Overview

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality of student learning in college

1,300 institutional members—including accredited public and private colleges, universities, and community colleges; half public, half private

A meeting ground for all parts of higher education – about our shared responsibilities to students and society

A network of more than 30,000 faculty members, academic leaders, presidents, and others working for educational reform

About LEAPLaunched 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 OutcomesA Guiding Vision and National Benchmarks for College Learning and Liberal Education in the 21st Century

High Impact PracticesHelping Students Achieve the Essential Learning Outcomes

Authentic Assessments of Student LearningProbing Whether Students Can APPLY Their Learning – to Complex Problems and Real-World Challenges

Inclusive ExcellenceDiversity, Equity, Quality of Learning for All Groups of Students

LEAP Areas of Work• Public Advocacy—leadership through National Leadership Council, Presidents’ Trust and Employer Partners, and work in selected LEAP states to make the case for liberal education and importance of essential learning

outcomes

• Campus Action—networking and active support for campus efforts to increase all students’ achievement of essential learning outcomes and to communicate more effectively about liberal education; leadership through the Campus Action Network (CAN) of institutions committed to advancing liberal education for all students

• Authentic Evidence—reports on public opinion, high-impact practices that lead to essential learning outcomes, assessment approaches that deepen student learning ,and periodic reports of national data on student achievement

Employers’ Views on College Learning and the

Economy

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

HARTRESEARCHA S S O T E SC I A

It Takes More Than A Major:Employer Priorities for College Learning

and Student Success

Key findings from survey among 318 employersConducted January 9 – 13, 2013

for

Employers Are Raising the Bar

92% of employers say that “innovation is essential to our company’s continued success.”

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.”

91% of employers say that “the challenges their employees face are more complex than they were 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 Hiring

“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)

Majorities of Employers Want Colleges to Place More Emphasis on Broad, Cross-Cutting Skills, and Application – that is:

Strong Majorities Endorse What LEAP calls “The Essential Learning Outcomes” (See Handout with LEAP ELOs and Employer Priorities for College Learning)

It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for

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 64% 27% 9%

67% 22% 11%

71% 20% 9%

72% 19% 9%

78% 16% 6%

80% 12% 8%

80% 12% 8%

81% 13% 6%

82% 11% 7%

More emphasis than they do today Less emphasisThe same emphasis

Majorities of employers want colleges to place more emphasis on broad, cross-cutting skills and application

It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for

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

Employers endorse some high-impact practices with potential to help graduates succeed.

Percentage of Employers Who Say Practice Will Help Students A Lot or A Fair Amount to Succeed in the Workplace

It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for

Having both field-specific knowledge and skills AND a broad range of skills and knowledge

Having a range of skills and knowledge that apply to a range of fields or positions

Having knowledge and skills that apply to a specific field or position

Quality = A Both/And VisionLong-term career success requires broad knowledge and specific skills

16%

29%

55%

Which is more important for recent college graduates who want to pursue advancement and long-term career success at your company?

It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for

74%

7%

19%

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?

I would advise a

young person to pursue [a liberal

education]

Would not

Depends

Three in four employers would recommend the concept of a liberal education to their own child or a

young person they know

“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."

Employer Views Reflect Economic Trends

Source: Dancing with Robots: Human Skills for Computerized Work, by Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane. Third Way, 2013.

What Economists Say“Human work will increasingly shift toward two kinds of tasks: solving problems for which standard operating procedures do not currently exist, and working with new information—acquiring it, making sense of it, communicating it to others….today, work that consists of following clearly specified directions is increasingly being carried out by computers and workers in lower-wage countries. The remaining jobs that pay enough to support families require a deeper level of knowledge and the skills to apply it.”

“Frank Levy and Richard Murnane, “Dancing with Robots” (2013)

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 ThinkingWritingTeamwork and CollaborationGlobal KnowledgeSTEM Knowledge

In Other Words, Employers Seek and Reward the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes – But Often

Find Them in Short Supply

This Forum Seeks Ways to Strengthen the Connections Between the Curriculum and

Workplace Success

Making Quality a Shared Priority

The Employer-Educator Compact – Over 270 Signatories and Counting…

The Employer-Educator Compact

Employers are Invited to Sign…and to Discuss Widely…With Colleagues Within and Beyond Their Organizations

Presidents Also Are Invited to Sign – and to Enlist Additional Employer Partners

Our Shared Goal is Wider Understanding that Increasing

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