Scholars debate the criticism higher education has received for not adequately preparing students for careers that reflect employer and industry needs and low job placement rates (Holzner, 2017; Monis, 2018; Niu et al., 2019). The skills desired for today's qualified applicants continue to change, and employers are experiencing difficulty finding…

To meet the demands of jobs, now and in the future, jobseekers should possess a variety of skills frequently requested by employers. Skills can be both academic and technical in nature but also include personal qualities and advanced cognitive skills, such as decision-making and interpersonal skills--referred to in this report as success skills.…

One only needs to listen to the news reports to recognize that the gap between securing the enterprise and cybersecurity threats, breaches, and vulnerabilities appears to be widening at an alarming rate. An untapped resource to combat these attacks lies in the students of the secondary educational system. Necessary in the cybersecurity education…

The BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC; BHCR) is flush with colleges and universities training students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines and has one of the most highly educated workforces in the United States. However, current educational approaches and business recruitment tactics are…

America and the South seem to have turned a corner on the deep and prolonged recession that started in 2008. The stranglehold it has had on jobs and job prospects caught many by surprise, and it has caused education leaders to refocus state policy on the relationship between career preparation and education. This report provides updates on the…

Building a competitive workforce for the 21st Century requires the careful alignment of K-12 and university curricula with the skill needs of business and industry. In addition to making students better problem solvers, critical thinkers, and users of technology, academic preparation must instill in them the desire to become lifelong learners,…

This article explores the relationship between school mathematics qualifications and the transition into employment. As part of a large-scale, three-year independent evaluation of pilot qualifications in 14-19 school mathematics, all 39 Sector Skills Councils and Employment Skills Boards in the UK were invited to provide evidence regarding their…

Across the country, large numbers of young people are dreaming about and planning on attending college. A poll released in 2005 showed that 87 percent of all young people want to go to college. Often, however, parents' and students' dreams for the future are not being realized. Many young people never enroll in a postsecondary institution, and of…

Skills are high on the agendas of politicians and, increasingly, of employers. For Chris Humphries, Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, it felt as though things have come full circle. He noted that five years ago, the biggest priority for business was not skills, but they are now--absolutely, categorically and without…

The crisis in preparing people for work stems from many factors: generalization versus specialization, student employment with little guidance or relevance to future work, changing skill requirements, and labor shortages in specific occupations. The focus of reform should be a greater match between skills training and employment opportunities. (SK)

The Context Oriented Training (COT) method is introduced and explored in this paper. COT is a means of improving the training process, beginning with the observation and analysis of current corporate experiences in the field. The learning context lies between the development of professional competencies in training and the operational side in the…

The information and service industries are and will remain the largest areas of growth/employment. Among current/projected changes in the work environment are the following: greater competition within/beyond the continental borders of the United States; increasing reliance on new equipment/processes; more/constantly changing information to be…

Work force growth will slow dramatically in the 1990s. To ensure a more prosperous future, productivity and competitive position must be improved. New high performance forms of work organization operate very differently from the system of mass manufacturing. These work organizations require large investments in training. The approach to work and…

Asserts the need for a universal system of credentialing across the nation's community and technical colleges. Suggests that professionally recognized skill certifications are being demanded by employers, and that community colleges will do well to respond. Proposes the development of a national/state credentialing system based upon industry…

This document discusses community colleges and career qualifications. Community colleges have a dual challenge in responding to the new economy. First, they will need to play their part in educating and training the workforce that employers need to meet new competitive standards for cost efficiency, quality, variety, customization, convenience,…