Employer to educator partnerships is crucial to improving communication between the two entities. As it stands, employers and educators are not communicating effectively which has contributed to the skills gap and high number of job vacancies. Most employers do not believe educators are doing a satisfactory job in preparing students for the workforce. By establishing employer-educator partnerships and changing the way educators operate, these skills gaps will close and jobs will be filled.
Educational institutions must also change the way they operate. Current educational institutions treat students as customers. Students are treated extremely well while attending university, with many extracurricular activities and amenities included as part of tuition. This system does not put enough importance on post-graduation employment rates and salary tracking. In order to improve student employment rates and salaries, educators should instead operate with employers as their customers in mind. Educators should be incentivized to provide partnered employers with high quality, skilled workers.
All students are not the same and should not be treated as such. Since each individual has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, an educational curriculum should be custom tailored to align with them. A personalized curriculum would allow people to become well trained in whichever specific area they pursue. Instead of students taking general classes and not determining their major until their sophomore or junior year, students should understand what they want to pursue near the start of their education and continue to train and learn on that subject throughout their entire education. Slow progression and exposure in their area of study would give them the advantage to become a productive and valuable asset in their niche.
Mentorships provided by industry partners
Quality mentorships can greatly help mold an individual. The volume of information a mentor can pass on to a mentee is truly insurmountable. If each student has a mentor to personally guide their decisions about which career path to pursue the student would greatly strengthen their rate of success and empowerment in the long run.
Career-centric curriculum
Practicing global faculty
Revenues from faculty services and the business incubator
Royalties, foundation donation, grants, and public donations
Job readiness for competitive global market
Accreditation by employers, academicians and innovators from around the world
Blended learning platform – synchronous and asynchronous
Learning and teaching methods should be updated to match the accelerating path of technological development.
Blended learning uses a combination of competency-based learning, online learning, flipped classroom learning and mobile technology to take advantage of the advances in technology and learning methods.
Bright students should have the ability to have their thoughts and ideas implemented in the real world. It is these students that will become the business leaders and visionaries of the next generation.
In order to foster growth and promote actualization of ideas, a business incubator is needed to serve as the transposing medium. Business incubators with faculty engagement have the building blocks necessary to promote actualization of abstract ideas from within the University.
Professors not only teach, but design products and solutions to be sold in the global marketplace. This approach allows professors to continue to perform, be constantly up-to-date on industry trends and remain competitive members of the workforce.
Students are not only learning but applying their talents to designing and implementing solutions to be sold in global markets.
The business incubator will provide a takeoff platform from which future entrepreneurs can grow profitable companies and create jobs.
Besides IQ and EQ, CQ (cultural quotient) is another measurable skill set that is growing in relevance. As the economies of the world become increasingly interconnected, cultural exchange and reciprocation is an important process that must occur.
The promotion of cultural events and exchange programs for students would increase the ability to learn about other languages and global cultures. A well-developed CQ will help promote trade and commerce between nations.