Students need more than “generic soft skills and internships” to be prepared for the workforce, writes UW–Madison’s Matthew Hora in an opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed. Instead, he argues, they need work-integrated classroom learning and pathways to build career readiness.
Hora is an associate professor of adult and higher education with the Division of Continuing Studies and with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies. He is also co-director of UW–Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT).
In the piece, titled “Career-Readiness Initiatives Are Missing the Mark,” Hora states: “It is time for a new approach. As part of our ongoing work at CCWT in this area, we are developing a new framework to help departments and institutions more intentionally integrate culturally responsive, broadly accessible, and user-friendly career-readiness experiences throughout a student’s pathway toward a credential.”
Hora continues on to explain three major problems with colleges’ school-to-workforce transition tactics: an overly generic definition of “skills,” reliance on off-campus internship experiences, and the lack of a clear “road map” for students.
To learn more about the challenges Hora studies — as well as the solutions he proposes — check out the full op-ed.