The prevailing view in building a healthy learn-and-work ecosystem—and a robust economy—is that higher education must be aligned with the needs of today's and tomorrow's workforce. When higher education programs align with workforce needs and meet industry demands they are viewed as “aligned.”

Increasingly, many higher education institutions are using industry data to inform their planning, implementation, and updating of courses programs. Industry data can provide insight into the current and future direction of the workforce and the skills needed for specific roles. The use of industry data by higher education contributes to efforts to align education and employer interests.

Key approaches to alignment include:

• Aligning academic program outcomes with in-demand skills needed by employers.
• Institutions offering reskilling and upskilling courses and programs (often short-term) which allow employees to learn skills needed to help prepare individuals to fill high-demand, open positions.
• Institutions making innovation and employer partnerships core to their culture.
• Institutions embracing models that serve diverse populations of students well (e.g., career advising/navigation, work-based learning, flexible scheduling).
• Institutions measuring main outcomes to inform continuous improvement (e.g., completion rates, return on investment, equity in access and attainment).
• Working closely with policymakers, especially at the state level, in collaborations between educators and business leaders to participate in funding, building, and adapting the educational infrastructure for the future of work. These efforts can help policymakers better understand how to expand access to higher education and workforce training programs to help state and local economies flourish while encouraging greater alignment between higher education and current workforce needs.

These approaches help ensure that individuals have a clear pathway to opportunity while aligning workforce demands with talent supply.

See:  Higher Education & Employer Partnerships | Learn & Work Ecosystem Library