The topic for this month’s newsletter articles is the reestablishment of the connection between businesses and educational institutions. Businesses are loudly complaining today that university graduates aren’t qualified for employment, and we’ve been discussing how businesses should take charge and reach out to connect or reconnect with schools, colleges and universities.
But what about the other way around? How could educational institutions improve student quality by reaching out to businesses themselves?
Meeting Department of Education Demands
Because of the lowering quality of graduating students, Departments of Education today have made job placement for graduates a number one priority. At the same time, the number one complaint from businesses is that schools, colleges and university graduates are unqualified. How can schools, colleges or universities know what to teach students so that they can actually qualify for positions?
The simple answer is, they can reach out to businesses and open conversations about job placement. What qualifications would potential recruits need to have for that company to hire them?
This is currently not being done. A colleague of ours has a granddaughter who is attending a top university. In addition to her course of study, this student is part of a business club which is supposed to help teach students what the business world is like. However, this club is not in any way connected with any businesses.
Defining Standards
Bridging with actual companies would allow educational institutions to begin to set standards for graduating students which, if met, would qualify them for hiring. This would then enable the school, college or university to comply with the Department of Education’s mandate about its priority of job placement for their students.
In order for this to occur, Departments of Education might need to reexamine accreditation limitations. Even if a school wants to change its standards, it can be limited by accreditation time limits. Students will need to be allowed the time to engage in practical application to meet rising standards.
Once a school, college or university has engaged in conversation with businesses and obtained the standards that need to be met for graduating students to be qualified, new standards can be set by schools and students can then be held to them.
At the same time, once an educational institution has agreed to teach to the standards dictated by businesses, the businesses must then agree to hire graduates if these standards are met. In the same way that students can be held accountable, so can the businesses.
Matching Up
In summary, there are three individual problems that need to be rectified:
1) Businesses complain that the graduating students coming to them and applying for employment are not qualified for that employment.
2) Departments of Education are making job placement the number one priority for colleges and universities.
3) Schools, colleges and universities don’t have a full understanding of what to teach students to make them qualified for employment.
These problems can be matched up and rectified by educational institutions reaching out to businesses and obtaining the information of what standards need to be met by graduating students for companies to hire them. These standards can then be set by schools, colleges and universities, students can meet them, and Department of Education job placement requirements will be met.
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