How Universities Can Both Launch and Sustain Careers in an Age of Technological Disruption

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Higher Education Outcomes

Abstract

Debates about universities and employment typically focus on universities’ role in launching careers, neglecting what universities can do to sustain graduates’ careers and overall employability. This is increasingly important, especially in STEM fields, due to rapid technological development and skill obsolescence. Based on fieldwork at universities in metropolitan areas in the East, Midwest/Rust Belt, South, and West, we argue that many universities, especially but not exclusively those at public research universities, have developed successful models for this career-sustaining role. These models high performing “post-graduate training (PGT) units,” typically in extension or continuing education schools, or based in schools of engineering. Effective PGT units are highly entrepreneurial—innovative and nimble—to keep up with changing employer skills demands. They achieve this by specializing in non-degree credentials, which relieves the need for accreditation, allowing rapid program development and just-in-time modification. We show how quality is maintained through market research, especially advisory boards made up of regional or national employers. PGT units can be important complements to the foundational education provided by the degree-granting campus institutions, thereby sustaining careers and enabling shifts after graduation-- and all the way to retirement.

Author

• John Skrentny, Univ. of California, San Diego