Why Closer Academy-Industry Partnerships Will Be Key To College And Career Success—And Are Already Paying Off

Late last month, about 150 different employers sent recruiters and staffed tables at the biggest job fair in Pace University’s history.

There were a lot of reasons for the enormous turnout. Part of it is simple supply and demand. Even as our economy begins to slow, there are far more job openings than available workers, and employers are desperate to hire. Part of it is an eagerness to once again connect in person. This was the first major job fair in more than three years at Pace, since before the onset of the pandemic. And part of it is because of the educational model we embrace here. We combine world-class academics with hands-on, experiential learning that’s focused on producing graduates ready to hit the ground running in their careers—which makes our graduates very attractive to employers.

But a big reason for that record-setting turnout, I believe, is the close relationships Pace, where I serve as president, and especially our Career Services Office maintain with area employers. And at a time when the number of college students is shrinking, especially in the northeast, productive partnerships between higher education and employers—whether global giants, local startups, or important nonprofits—will become increasingly crucial.

That’s because the smaller number of students—and thus graduates—risks creating big problems for America’s businesses. “Fewer college graduates could worsen labor shortages in fields from health care to information technology,” noted an AP report last month about a recent trend of young people deciding against college. To keep the college-to-career pipeline strong, colleges and employers will need to work together closely to ensure a ready supply of properly trained graduates.

There are a range of mutual benefits from such relationships.

Colleges can benefit from the insights and expertise provided by corporate and nonprofit neighbors. With insight into business strategy, leaders of educational institutions can learn what fields are primed for growth and what skills will be in demand, and make academic investments accordingly. Advisors can direct students toward careers where they know jobs will be plentiful and demand and high, and faculty can get access to industry experts who can help train students in the skills and expertise they’ll need.

Potential students, meanwhile, can seek out colleges that they know have tight relationships with employers. As that AP article notes, part of the reason for the current decline in enrollments is that in the wake of the pandemic some young people think that the investment in education won’t pay off in future earnings. But if they know that the college-to-work pipeline is strong, they can see college as offering more clear returns.

Finally, it is in corporate America’s interest to make sure that they continue to have access to the educated workforce they need. Indeed, employers could start to offer college or graduate coursework to their employees as benefits and incentives, or develop tuition assistance programs that will both help them attract workers in a competitive environment and deliver the trained employees they require.

At Pace, hands-on, experiential education that’s grounded in the liberal arts is a hallmark of our college experience. Because we know that professional experience is so important, we have long worked with employers to help improve and refine our course offerings to ensure they’re relevant and to develop targeting programs that benefit both students and employers.

For many years, for example, Pace Online has worked together with a consortium of telecommunications companies and unions called NACTEL, the National Alliance for Communications Technology Education and Learning, to offer adults working in the telecom industry the opportunity to earn college and graduate degrees that help them to advance in their fields. It’s a genuinely transformative opportunity for the students—and one that also benefits their employers, who retain even more qualified employees.

More recently, we launched a partnership with the global accounting firm EY to offer an online master’s degree in taxation to its global employees. That way, tax professionals around the world gain expertise in American corporate income tax, capital gains, and valuation, which helps us to grow our student body and footprint while enabling EY to address its staffing needs around the world.

These programs are win-win-wins: They bring us new students, bring students new educational opportunities, and help employers better train and better retain their employees. And they’re kinds of programs all colleges and universities—and our partners in the private and pubic sectors—need to start building more of.