This research will attempt to examine levels of graduate preparedness of general industry knowledge, soft/hard skills, and leadership. This study will use a three-pronged approach to gathering data of university undergraduate level graduates, professors, and employers. This study is expected to continue data collection through December 2020.
This research is attempting to examine the effectiveness of Universities and Colleges in the preparation of graduates entering the workforce. This study will be using a three-pronged approach of gathering data via the use of surveys of college and university graduates at the undergraduate and graduate level, professors and instructors, and employers. The researchers are attempting to discover the preparedness of graduates entering the workforce as from how they believe they are prepared, how well professors believe they are preparing the students, and how the employers rate the level of work-ready preparedness. This research will attempt to examine levels of graduate preparedness in areas of general industry knowledge, soft/hard skills and, leadership. This study is expected to continue data collection through December 2020.
This study aims to discern the relationship and meaning of the ways in which higher-education classroom connections impact career readiness strategies, thereby setting students up for success when entering a professional field of practice. Studies purport a student’s employment pattern is determined by the degree completion and impacted by college choice and experiences, such as attending a community college or University. They are also impacted by background and environmental risk factors such as less advantaged family circumstances, social class inequality, and not academically prepared for postsecondary education. Furthermore, these risk factors impact the student’s need to work longer hours for deficient pay impacting degree completion. Moreover, exploration of these findings would include differentiation and further consideration of inequality in educational and degree attainment and employment (Roska, 2011).
Roska (2011) concludes gaps in degree attainment and employment trends may be unique to the U.S. due to the weak link between higher education and desired career aspirations in the labor market.
Wolf, Kershner, and Bliss (2017) surmise value in embedding experiential learning elements in academic courses to allow students to gain insight into current-trending and practical realities of potential careers within the focus of their studies. They found implementation (layered across the years of study – as building blocks) of these focused curricular content-based courses many skillsets are adaptable to other areas within the field of practice. Although, the authors suggest this is not a new concept, but one introduced over 100 years ago by Langdell, from Harvard Law School, which has received criticism and reform over the years. In addition to this concept, they focused on the reform movement as described in their resource Best Practices, the Carnegie Report, and Building on Best Practices. By focusing on the importance of schools to integrate context-based-learning, offering students the opportunities to engage in creative hypothetical or real problem-solving exercises involving “cognitive, practical, and ethical-social” (p. 7) concepts. Finally, a program that integrates a cumulative lens and context of the “foundational knowledge, skills, and values, that are readily transferable” (p. 12) across the student’s life course.
Aiming at the core of this research in ways we can thoughtfully, academically prepare students for industry, research conducted by Alford and Edgar (2017), although aimed at chemical engineering students, is foundationally our current focus. Furthermore, there has been an evolution in the industry over the past few decades, as most of us realize in our fields of practice. They also suggest despite these industry changes, many of the academic courses have remained unchanged, further producing gaps between education and career transition, leaving these graduates unprepared to work in a “dynamic and multi-disciplinary field” (p. 25). In an effort to improve these standards and meet the needs of all stakeholders, this industry has incorporated appointed industry advisory boards to review programs and suggest changes by modernizing the course programs.
References:
Alford, J. and Edgar, T.F. (2017). Preparing chemical engineering students for industry. Chemical Engineering Progress, 113(11), 25028. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.csp.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cs...
Roska, J. (2011). Differentiation and work: Inequality in degree attainment in U.S. higher education. Higher Education.61, 293-308. doi:10.1007/s10734-010-9378-7
Wolf, L.E., Kershner, S, and Bliss, L. (2017). A concentrated certificate program incorporating experiential education: Helping students prepare for a career in the dynamic area of health law. 24 Int'l J. Clinical Legal Educ. 3