READ and RESPOND: Colleges Predict Skills

Newsela  Guessing game: Colleges try to predict skills needed for 

                                          future jobs

The Institute for the Future is a group that does research and makes predictions. It believes that 85 percent of the jobs that people will do in 2030 don't exist yet.

That might seem like a high number to reach in only 11 years. Think about some common jobs such as social media manager or app developer, though. They did not exist just a handful of years ago.

Even if that 85 percent is ultimately smaller, the number raises some important questions. How is the workforce preparing for the future? What role should colleges play in making sure students are ready for their future careers?

Educational institutions are trying to answer these questions by adapting their programs. Here are some of the approaches they're taking.

Skills Learned In College Might Be Useless In Several Years

There is not always a connection between what you learned in college and what you do in the workforce. Some college graduates have jobs that match their college majors. However, many have jobs that do not require a college degree at all.

That is not to say that college degrees are not worth earning. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require at least some college education.

Today, about 12.5 million students are enrolled in at least one career education course. These courses teach technical skills used in specific jobs. The problem is many courses train people only for the jobs that exist today. The skills they teach could be useless in several years.

Education Needs To Continue After College

It usually takes four years to earn a college degree. After graduating, students find jobs, and they don't usually return to school. Experts who study education and work say this model needs to change. Education can no longer be seen as something that stops after a person finishes college.

Jonathan Blake Huer is an education expert. He imagines a world where college is not four years in a row at all.

Instead, he'd like to see an education system that is much more flexible. Students could take a year or two of school, get a job and then return to school later. This kind of system would be better at adapting to changing technology.

In the past, many employers were willing to train people on the job. That has changed over the last 50 years. A government report found that employer-sponsored training fell 42 percent between 1996 and 2008.

Filling The Skills Gap

Colleges are finding various ways to fill the skills gap. At the University of Utah, students can take part in the new Degree Plus program. It offers courses intended as an add-on to a student's main degree. The courses include web design and digital marketing.

It is additional work, but many students find the added value is worth it. The skills could give them a leg up when looking for jobs.

Other colleges are trying to make the classroom more like the office.

Several colleges have partnered with companies to use their products in the classroom. One of these companies is Adobe, which makes software.

Professors are encouraged to use the software for unusual assignments. For example, students might use it to make videos based on poems. They can also use the software to design 3-D-printed objects.

At the University of California, Berkeley, students can design their own courses. This allows them to study new technology such as artificial intelligence.

"Not Just About Preparing Kids For Work"

Jenn Stringer is an academic technology officer at the University of California, Berkeley. "We're not just about preparing kids for work," she said. "We hope we are preparing them to have a huge impact on society in some way."

That way, they will not only be prepared for whatever the job market looks like in 10, 20 or 50 years. They will be the ones shaping it.