Real-World Preparedness

[lturner2]

Around the world, I can attest to that in many parts of Canada, as well as Germany, schools as early as high-school level have "officially" partnered with local business (technical/mechanical/banking, etc) in order to establish a more convenient way of receiving qualified individuals when they leave college. But the official partnership is qualified by the fact that many of these companies actually aid in the cost of tuition for the student, upon contractual agreement.

This accomplishes many goals - for every party involved.

First, as was mentioned, college graduates have been trained by this company over many summers and have usually maintained part-time jobs with the same organization, often times in various rolls. this prepares them, not only for the profession, but they have now been adequately been exposed to a variety of job descriptions within one area of interest and allows them to focus their studies accordingly.

Second, the students receive financial assistance, not federal debt. 'Nuff said.

Third, ok, I'll stop numbering. What a relief to know that all during your college experience you get a real good idea that your learning experience is tied to learning about what you are experiencing at the work place. I believe you could actually enjoy what you're learning about because you're getting to experience it early on, and on a regular basis!

1. Does your school actively encourage internships and job-shadowing (more than that one required day)?

2. What do you think about the work-place buy-in culture in the US?

[kona]

 @lturner2 , it depends on the degree/certificate program, but many of ours require internships and job shadowing (for more than one day). My office is lucky to benefit from this in that almost every semester we have 1-2 student workers who are also doing internships. They are highly skilled and help with fixing student and staff personal computers and devices, as well as troubleshooting other technology issues for students. These are all free services we can offer to our students and staff thanks to these students and their internships; and yes, we do pay them for working for us using federal work study and various other grants. 

[kona]

Whoops forgot to mention that the internship also benefits the student and we’ve had a number of them go on and get excellent jobs right out of school because of their experience work for us. 🙂

[kmeeusen]

Hi  @lturner2 ‌

Like  @kona we are a tech college, so job shadowing, internships, clinical practicums etc. are the norm, Furthermore, all technical/profession programs in our state are required to have advisory boards composed of industry reps. So we get this whole thing!

However, over the last year we have increased our industry connections through an LTI created in a partnership with our school and a developer under a Dept. of Labor grant. The tool is called JobWorthy, and it tracks student achievement of industry-defined competencies, and provides a mechanism whereby those competencies can be updated as need through collaboration between employers and out faculty.

We are currently the only school using this tool, and only a small number of programs are enrolled in it, but we will be expanding, and other schools in our State consortium (and at least one outside it) are interested.

It is actually a very cool tool, and you can learn more at https://jobworthy.co/ 

Kelley

[Boekenoogen]

 This is a very difficult question to answer. The reason is two parts: the first part is that we always want to prepare our students to be productive citizens. So, we want to partner with industries, and with businesses to make sure that our students are graduating with the proper skills to compete in the work environment. The second part is  we want to make sure that the students are graduating with the ability to think for themselves, to analyze the situation, and to adapt based on what they have learned. If we allow businesses and  industries to dictate the type of future worker they want, then they may only get mindless robots who will do what they’ve been told to do. It is the role In higher education to make sure that students have real world skills, but also the knowledge to make decisions and choices for themselves. 

[kmeeusen]

the first part is that we always want to prepare our students to be productive citizens. So, we want to partner with industries, and with businesses to make sure that our students are graduating with the proper skills to compete in the work environment. The second part is  we want to make sure that the students are graduating with the ability to think for themselves, to analyze the situation, and to adapt based on what they have learned.

Why can't both be done? And industry defining competencies, schools determining curriculum standards, and states determining degree requirements are the balance needed to do just that.

Bottom line is that most industry employers are seeking those same "soft skills" that foster students developing "knowledge to make decisions and choices for themselves".

https://www.fastcompany.com/40520691/these-are-the-five-soft-skills-recruiters-want-most 

Kelley