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What today’s graduates need from higher education.

Susan Simpson

“Where are you going to college?”

This question is top-of-mind for millions of high school graduates and their parents. But the answer matters less than you think.

So let’s change the question. Recent surveys point to a handful of experiences that will set students up to thrive after graduation. In other words, a satisfying life and career correlates not with where you go to college, but how you go to college.

“As students and their parents consider where to go to college, they should ask: Which college suits the student’s intellect and values? Which offers the teaching and learning methods that will prepare them to succeed in career and life?,” suggests Bentley University’s president, Gloria Cordes Larson. 

This topic is discussed in a new book that Larson is writing: “PreparedU: The Promise of Fusion Learning for Today’s Graduates.”

DOWNLOAD AN EXCERPT OF THE BOOK


What Makes Students Thrive?
A 2014 study of 30,000 college graduates by Gallup puts this issue into sharp focus. The report pinpoints six factors/activities in the undergraduate experience that have measurable impact on post-college well-being:

  1. Professors who made students excited to learn
  2. Professors who cared about them as people
  3. Projects that took a semester or more to complete
  4. Encouragement from a mentor to pursue goals and dreams
  5. Internships to apply classroom learning
  6. Participation in activities and organizations outside the classroom  


These factors reflect many of the values that distinguish the current generation of college students — millennials and Gen Z-ers — from their boomer and Gen X predecessors. Much has been discussed in the media about how companies need to engage these groups and either adapt to or integrate their particular views or risk losing a powerful sector of consumers, not to mention the primary talent pool of future employees. In the first quarter of 2015, millennials passed Gen X as the largest percentage of American workers.

Read more about the PreparedU Project and how Bentley is shedding light on these issues.



How Should Higher Education Adapt?
These are the same challenges that higher education is facing, from the Ivy League to State U. Without bowing to fickle trends or fleeting fashion, we need to keep educational methods and practices in synch with new graduates’ mindsets and the workplace they’ll enter at graduation.

Here are five qualities about today’s graduates that colleges need to adapt to in order to stay relevant:

 

  1. They Are Tech-Savvy and World-Wise
    A generation that grew up with the Internet is more sophisticated and worldly than generations past. Their easy adaptability to new technologies and communication platforms suggests we utilize learning venues beyond the traditional classroom.
     
  2. They Are Smart Consumers
    Millennials typically visit more than 10 sources of online information before buying. They tend to judge a product or service based on the “experience” it affords them, versus “features” touted by a third party. Colleges need to be highly specific in describing the experience of attending their school.   
     
  3. They Tune into the Social Good
    The triple bottom line – people, planet and profit – takes a front seat when it comes to career. Fully 95 percent of millennials say company ethics are a factor in choosing a job. College courses and career programs must connect values to professional skills from the first day a student steps onto campus.
     
  1. They Are Skeptical, for Good Reason
    Their frame of reference includes deception on a grand scale, for example, the financial meltdown of 2008. Little wonder that only 19 percent of millennials agree with the statement “Generally speaking, most people can be trusted.” Educators should embrace this skepticism. It encourages evidence-based inquiry and self-directed learning — valuable skills for every life and career.   
     
  2. They Face Demanding — and Conflicted — Employers
    In a workplace rocked by changes in technology, business practices and the global economy, employers are conflicted about the kind of skills their workers need. In surveys, they tout the value of “soft” skills such as integrity, professionalism, a positive attitude and oral communication. But in practice, the jobs go to candidates with industry-specific “hard” skills. Colleges can lead the way in joining the two skill sets — in whatever way fits their school’s mission and students.
     

    Business success is about hiring people with a wide variety of knowledge about the world

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    At Bentley University we practice educational fusion, where the study of business is integrated with arts and sciences throughout courses and majors. As Dan Everett, dean of Arts & Sciences puts it: “The success of a business has to do with hiring people with a wide variety of knowledge about the world. Creative thinkers with deeply held values and critical-thinking skills.” (Read more about how this fusion model works.)


To learn more about these topics, read the excerpt of President Larson’s forthcoming book: PreparedU: The Promise of Fusion Learning for Today’s Graduates.

Susan Simpson is a writer and editor with a focus on issues in higher education and business. At Bentley University, she serves as senior associate director of marketing communication and editor of Bentley Magazine. Her passion is translating complex topics and ideas into stories that inform and engage readers, whether in print or online. As an editor, she is vigilant in the service of precise communication...misplaced modifiers and passive voice beware.