Role of Colleges
Life-long learning will be the norm in the future due to the rapidly changing nature of work. You have to constantly adapt and improve your skills in order to stay relevant in the workforce. In this context, it is not enough if colleges just give you the skills you need for your first job. They need to prepare you with the attributes needed to be able to learn and adapt constantly. While job-specific short courses are becoming more popular and necessary they are not a substitute for a college education. Colleges and job-specific courses are both important and in the future, they will become more integrated.
Life-Long Learning
In the past, formal learning was limited to a college or post-graduate degree and ceased when your professional life began. As automation and machine-learning continue advancing and becoming more powerful it is not feasible for people in the workforce to stop learning. During the span of someone’s career, the skills that will be valued are going to change greatly. For example, in the past, manually operating machines required skilled technicians but now that is almost obsolete and has been replaced by programming. Even within programming, the languages used have changed over time. In order to continue to be relevant, you need to constantly learn new and pertinent skills.
Colleges have a responsibility in facilitating life-long learning. In my opinion, colleges have two major roles. One is to provide the experience of living and interacting with a diverse group of students and providing social and emotional development. The second is the academic experience to provide learning focused on areas of interest while fostering holistic development. Social and emotional development along will always be important, particularly in a fast-changing world. In addition to research and analytical skills, a holistic learning experience is also important as it gives a wide exposure and improves critical life skills. It is important that colleges teach these skills that will be valuable through the lives of students while preparing them for their more immediate job needs.
Integrating College and Job-specific skills
Many students feel that college is expensive or that it is a huge time commitment, and may not join if they think it won’t get them a job immediately. Instead, they may solely take a course that teaches them the skills they need to get a job in an area they are passionate about. While these courses are very useful and teach job-relevant skills, they don’t offer the benefits of a college education outlined above. To resolve this issue there are two possible solutions. One is for colleges to partner with organizations that offer skills-based courses and offer them as part of the degree/diploma along with an additional certificate. The other option could be to reduce the length of the degree from 4 years to maybe 2 years allowing students to take skills-based courses separately.
Colleges can offer their original degree in addition to a certificate for particular skills. Inurture is a company that partners with colleges to create courses for new-age jobs that are currently in demand. The courses are usually 2–3 years long. On completion of the course, students receive a certificate from the college and from the course provider. This is in addition to the degree they will be receiving. This could be useful in motivating students to attend college and providing them with life-long skills while enabling them to easily get a job.
The second option is to reduce the time for a degree to allow students to take specific job-related courses post the completion of the degree. This could mean a 1 to a 2-year college program in addition to a 3–to 6-month course on job-related skills. Trilogy Educational Services offers a 3–6-month course on jobs that are currently in high demand. They also offer part-time courses to allow students to learn while they are working, along with an online option. Many students who have completed Trilogy courses have been hired by the top companies.
Credentialing System
In order to support life-long learning and help students to compile, preserve, and maintain a record of certificates they have earned or courses they have completed, Colleges can partner with companies like Credly that have created a credentialing system by which you receive recognition for the skills you have. You receive badges based on the courses you take. For example, if you take a course from a credible resource in Python programming, you will receive a badge that highlights your skills to potential employers. As you take additional courses on different subjects the number of your badges increases, forming a key part of your resume. The concept is similar to progression in video games. As you finish more missions the characters level up by gaining more attributes. The more skills you have the more you are able to advance in your career. These badges are focused on job-based courses and skills and can be from any course provider or even from an employer.
A job skills-integrated college program will be the need of the future and will provide for a college experience for students that is developmental while being focused on employability. It will also address the needs of employers by bridging the skill gap.
