Focus on Developing Competitive and Marketable Graduates

Under the pretense that we were to rebuild the higher education system from the ground up, the emphasis and mission of the system would involve developing a more competitive and marketable base of graduates. The triad of descriptors for any successfully graduated student includes the following: educated, prepared, and marketable. Historically higher education's focus has been weighted heavily on educated, less on prepared, and often lesser still on marketable. Today's global education economy (get used to that phrase) offers a unique and unchartered necessity for our educators to focus more aggressively on student marketability and preparedness while not minimizing traditional educational values that other countries' educational systems have chosen to ignore.

Simply broken-down, our graduates must be in higher demand on a regional, national, and global basis. Educational institutions, much like any organization tasked with developing and delivering competitive products, must be constantly in touch with the real-time demands of the market. Subsequently, a nimble and agile system for rapid curriculum change and development must be in place to assure students are learning sought-after skills that are relevant in today's market. Finally, an organizational adoption to constantly identify opportunities for practical experience (projects, internships, etc.) is essential. Institutional reliance on the efforts of a typically understaffed career services department is the practice of an organization left behind. 

The business community is willing to partner with educational institutions in an effort to create relevant programs, which would yield marketable graduates. For those businesses that have established these connections, many have experienced a slowed sense of urgency, fueled by an overly bureaucratic system, yielding a response that is outpaced by changes in the market. Proportional responsiveness, in the form of curriculum augmentation and change, is essential to increasing graduate marketability. Without compromising programmatic integrity, the ideal higher education system must focus on traditional enrichment and intellectual growth with dramatically increased emphasis on delivering marketable, in-demand skills and practical knowledge.

Jason Alexander is a managing partner with BANK W Holdings, LLC in Bedford, which includes three staffing firms: Alexander Technology Group, KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting and The Nagler Group. Alexander also serves as a director/advisor on the boards of the NH High Technology Council, NHTI, Great Bay Community College, Granite State College, and Pinkerton Academy. He can be reached at 603.637.1466 or at jalexander@alexandertg.com. For more information, visit www.alexandertg.com.