How Higher Education Can Adapt to Evolving Workforce Trends

1) Focus on needs and trends in your region

2) Emphasize skills in your market research

3) Use skill insights to develop AND market your offerings

4) Strengthen industry partnerships to improve outcomes

5) Embrace lifelong learning as a growth strategy

The first step to a strategic response is understanding how national economic trends are impacting your region. Not all local economies are the same, so the nature and extent of skill disruption will naturally vary from place to place. Understanding what this means for your place is essential to making sure you don’t expend resources solving problems you don’t have, or missing opportunities you do have.

What is “your place”? For some institutions, like community colleges with a well-defined service region, this is fairly straightforward to answer. But if you’re not sure – or you're open to being surprised – data can help. For example, looking at the cities, industries, and companies your alumni go to after graduation can illuminate which markets are most relevant for each of your academic programs. 

The RVA Chamber of Commerce used this approach to uncover employment and migration patterns for alumni of Virginia institutions, including the companies they work for, the cities they move to, and which academic programs experienced the highest rates of “brain drain.” Individual institutions, like the University of New Mexico and the City College of New York, use this same kind of data to better understand their own students’ academic and career pathways.

This alumni insight can then be used to guide market research, creating a data-driven feedback loop that lets you focus on the regions and employers most likely to matter to your programs’ graduates.

Most institutions recognize the value of labor market information (LMI) for informing program decisions, but when it comes to aligning offerings with fast-changing skill requirements, traditional LMI – like industry and occupation data – isn’t sufficient by itself. 

Capturing skill insight from employer job postings offers the “missing link” institutions need to supplement their research for today’s labor market. The unique advantages afforded by skills data, like its unparalleled recency and level of precision, make it the perfect complement to traditional LMI. 

East Carolina University (ECU) provides a compelling example of how this complementarity works. By combining findings from a Program Demand Gap Analysis report (which focuses on comparing completions vs. occupation demand in a given region) with real-time skills data from the Analyst platform the team at ECU is able to create alignment from high-level enrollment goals, to the programs they offer and invest in, and all the way down to the skills taught in course curricula and credentials.

Of course, tracking regional skill trends is only half the battle. The next step is translating the intelligence you’ve gathered into impactful decisions. You can start by looking for ways to enrich existing programs with future-ready skills that will enhance graduates’ career readiness. (Tip: A tool like Skillabi makes this easier by automating the work of identifying key skills taught in your programs and showing how those skills align with employer demand.)

In light of the news that shorter, vocationally aligned certificates have been behind much of the recent growth in first-year enrollment, you may also want to consider bundling a few classes that teach a “critical mass” of valuable skills into a non-degree credential offering. As you do, keep in mind that the same demand data guiding your credential development process can (and should) also be used to support your marketing efforts.

For example, Gies College of Business used Lightcast skills data to create several new graduate certificates, and then leveraged that data to inform the content of pre-recorded webinars that are a key element of their recruiting and marketing strategies.

Collaboration with employers can help ensure offerings stay aligned with industry needs by keeping you close to the source when it comes to understanding those needs. Co-developing programs with industry stakeholders ensures students graduate with relevant, real-world experience. Internships, apprenticeships, and experiential learning opportunities not only enrich the student journey but also deepen the institution’s connection to the labor market. These partnerships can lead to new opportunities for funding, innovation, and placement pipelines. And, critically, these partnerships help you stay “close to the source” when it comes to tracking evolving industry needs.

While partnerships are ultimately about person-to-person relationships, even here, data can play a role in helping you identify potential partners, quantify your institution’s relevance to their workforce needs, and come to the table with insight to share as well as questions to ask. For example, Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina leveraged the Lightcast skills taxonomy to spark conversations with employers about alignment between the skills needed to perform on the job, and skills taught in Tri-County programs. And Columbus State Community College uses Lightcast data to track industry needs and identify promising career pathways for students, in addition to working closely with partners like Honda on innovative earn-and-learn programs.

As the pace of skill change accelerates (and the supply of new workers dwindles), the traditional concept of a one-time higher education experience is no longer sufficient. Institutions can help champion and enable lifelong learning by offering certificates, continuing education programs, and flexible, online options better suited to the needs of working adults and other non-traditional learners. 

As mentioned earlier, Gies College of Business is serving working adults through new graduate certificates that are designed to “benefit both learners looking to upskill in their current roles, as well as reskill to move from one field to another.” The team at Gies uses labor market insight to ensure each certificate is aligned with in-demand skills that have verifiable value in the labor market.

Similarly, Purdue Global leverages Lightcast skills data to develop offerings for working adult learners, and to help guide those learners towards careers that are a good fit for their experience and educational background. For example, they created a BS in Organizational Management aimed at helping workers translate their management experience from the food service industry into a professional office environment.

These kinds of offerings – backed by data and closely aligned with industry needs – are a critical way for institutions to grow enrollment by helping working adults adapt to skill change.

Prioritizing agility in a world of accelerating change

In a rapidly changing labor market, agility is key. Reviewing curriculum relevance (possibly more frequently than in the past), integrating labor market data into strategic planning, and maintaining open lines of communication with industry partners will ensure programs stay ahead of the curve. 

Learn more about the shifting landscape of our current global labor market in our latest reaserch, Fault Lines.

By embracing these strategies, colleges and universities can play a pivotal role in shaping the workforce of tomorrow. Aligning academic programs with labor market trends not only enhances the value of the degrees you offer, but can also solidify your reputation as an engine of innovation and opportunity in your community. In doing so, you can position your institution for long-term success—attracting students, earning the respect of employers, and contributing meaningfully to the economic growth of your region.

Download The Speed of Skill Change and join our upcoming webinar to see how the accelerating pace of skill disruption in sectors like artificial intelligence, green jobs, and cybersecurity is already impacting the labor market – and foreshadowing what's coming next. Request a live demo or contact us today to learn more about how our data and solutions can help your institution stay ready.