Education

Colleges, Companies And Workers Must Collaborate To Produce Tomorrow’s Skilled Workforce

Posted: 5/23/2012

Can colleges and universities update their curricula and course delivery for today’s learners?

(NAPSI)—To compete in the world economy, U.S. businesses will need millions of new college graduates for the next decade’s new jobs. Can today’s colleges and universities develop future workers with the skills they will need for tomorrow’s jobs?

A new book by Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, “Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work and Society,” details how colleges and universities are still evolving ways to provide the workforce skills that companies will most need to innovate and grow in the 21st century.

“Traditional classroom learning no longer matches the way today’s students learn and complete coursework,” says Dr. Wilen-Daugenti, a former Silicon Valley executive who is the vice president and managing director of Apollo Research Institute. Major societal trends, such as degree acquisition later in life, social mobility and greater need for intercultural awareness, will dictate the content and delivery of higher education.

Yet many colleges and universities struggle to keep pace with these trends and enrollment rates over the past decade have been stagnant. As one solution, Dr. Wilen-Daugenti proposes greater use of distance learning programs, where online coursework and class participation supplement or replace face-to-face learning. “Distance learning helps brick-and-mortar universities add learning capacity while allowing working students to take courses on their own schedule,” she says.

Producing millions of new graduates will require multiple stakeholders for success. “Individuals must become lifelong learners to keep their skill sets current with marketplace demands across longer careers,” says Dr. Wilen-Daugenti. Educational institutions need to keep pace with technological and social developments in the skills they promote, the way they deliver instruction and the range of students they serve.

According to Dr. Wilen-Daugenti, businesses must adapt their workforce planning and development strategies and collaborate with higher education institutions to ensure that future skill requirements are aligned with relevant curricula and instructional delivery systems. Likewise, she says, the federal government must make education a national priority, to provide citizens with the skills most suited to building a sustainable future.

“The future of higher education is tied to innovation, technology and an adaptive knowledge of society’s emerging trends,” says Dr. Wilen-Daugenti of the teamwork needed to produce tomorrow’s resilient, skilled workforce. “The importance of education to career longevity and success has never been greater.”

For more information about Society 3.0, visit www.apolloresearchinstitute.org.

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