For one vision of the future, look no further than the University of Phoenix.
The for-profit college pays close attention to labor-market data, crafting new degree programs and tweaking its curricula in response to hiring trends and industry innovations. Recently, for example, the institution added a concentration in sustainable-enterprise management to its undergraduate business degree, a recognition of the growth in green jobs.
Adam Honea, Phoenix’s provost, says the university’s students, many of whom are working adults, are seeking the skills that will earn them a promotion or let them trade up to a better-paying career.
“The question we ask,” Mr. Honea says, “is, What are the majors that get people out of service-level jobs and into the middle class?”
The University of Phoenix, of course, is not alone in its focus on what Susan C. Aldridge, president of the University of Maryland University College, calls “work-force-relevant skills.” Ms. Aldridge’s institution, for one, offers a range of degree and certificate programs in high-demand fields like homeland security and information assurance. Community colleges, which have seen their enrollments swell in the economic downturn, have long focused on vocational education.
But some observers, in academe and industry alike, suggest that economic and demographic currents could lead more institutions to look more like the University of Phoenix. Tomorrow’s typical student, they note, will be older and working, not fresh out of high school. And an increasingly global, constantly changing workplace will require an evolving set of skills.
Whether those forces will result in a constellation of new, more-applied academic majors is an open question. More likely, they will lead to changes within majors or to a greater emphasis on internships or hands-on training.
Older students bring different expectations to the classroom, born out of their experiences in the work force, says Richard K. Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and a professor of economics at Ohio University.
“Does a 35-year-old want the same major as an 18-year-old?” Mr. Vedder asks. The success of for-profit colleges in capturing the adult-student market may be an indication that older students “want to major in something that’s relevant to their job, that’s a return on their investment,” he says.
In fact, their younger classmates may want much the same thing, says Robert B. Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Traditional-age students are seeking a connection between their course work and the “real world,” says Mr. Reich, a former U.S. secretary of labor.
Internships and service learning can provide a practical grounding to classroom theory. But Mr. Reich predicts there will also be more “blended” majors, like sociology and journalism, that combine professional education with conventional undergraduate disciplines, and new bachelor’s-degree programs in areas that were previously offered only at the graduate level, such as public health.
Applied Learning
The needs of the labor market will also play a role in determining what majors are offered in the future. Eric D. Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, says he expects that degree programs will change, partly in response to signals from business.
“The mix of degrees and programs will certainly be different 20 years from now,” says Mr. Fingerhut, who has pressed public colleges in his state to more clearly articulate how their academic strengths can support economic development there. “If it’s not, then that’s a problem. Without question, if we’re teaching the same things in the same way 20 years from now, then we will be failing.”
Not everyone agrees that the undergraduate major needs to become more specialized or closely tailored to industry demands. James J. Duderstadt, a former president of the University of Michigan, notes that in some fields, like engineering, the master’s degree is becoming the entry-level credential. “In the undergraduate program, it may be more important to stress breadth than depth,” says Mr. Duderstadt, now a professor of science and engineering at Michigan, “because this is not a capstone degree.”
And even those who believe that there should be a stronger connection between higher education and economic need do not necessarily think narrow vocational programs are the answer. Students still need a solid liberal-arts education, in order to acquire the flexibility they will need to prosper in a quickly changing world, says Julian L. Alssid, executive director of the Workforce Strategy Center, a nonprofit organization in New York. “I think what we’ll see is a continuing commitment to liberal-arts education, but more and more students will pick up certifications and work experience along the way that will demonstrate that they can apply what they’re learning to the world of work,” he says.
Mr. Alssid cites, for example, a program at Hunter College of the City University of New York that allows biology majors to take an intensive four-week course in biotechnology techniques, followed by a three-month paid internship with a biotechnology company or research laboratory.
“It’s not enough to be book smart,” Mr. Alssid says. “We need folks who are prepared to apply what they learned in school.”
