Preparing students for careers

By 2027, U.S. workers will experience 6.5 million job moves reflecting the transforming work world already under way for the past 20 years plus the additional displacement and disruption yet to be seen, according to Cisco CSR research.  In response to this rapidly changing economic landscape, higher education faces mounting pressures to equip students with tools graduates will need to be “career-ready.” To explore the solutions to this evolving environment, Inside Higher Education is sponsoring a panel discussion on Tuesday, July 9 in Baltimore featuring three university presidents: University of Cincinnati’s Neville Pinto, University of Utah’s Ruth Watkins and University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Jay Perman.

The panel focuses on “More than a Degree - Preparing Students for Careers.” Based on UC’s respected reputation as the birthplace of cooperative education, President Pinto will discuss the wealth of opportunities that UC’s co-op and experience-based learning approaches offer students. Under UC’s Next Lives Here strategic direction, the university continues to reinvent cooperative education and career preparation to respond to the evolving needs of the global workforce. 

Dubbed “Co-op 2.0,” its new paradigm strives to offer non-traditional approaches for paid co-ops and internships and envisions virtual job assignments that liberate co-op experiences from physical locations. It also is striving to expand co-ops and internships to fields and to students that have not traditionally participated in hands-on paid experiences. UC also is launching the Bearcat Promise with its incoming first-year class, with a goal of all students graduating with both a degree and a career plan.

Expanding the discussion, from Aug. 5-7, UC will host the WACE World Conference as a part of its bicentennial celebration. The conference brings hundreds of educational leaders from around the globe to focus on work-integrated learning in higher education.

Featured image at top: Graduates at UC Commencement wear decorated caps. Photo/UC Creative Services