13. American Higher Ed: Job Projection

Many important issues were brought up particularly the issue of how to make sure that graduates are leaving our institutions to be prepared for employment in the current economy-had the biggest impact on me. To help prepare graduates I would advise that professors not focus too heavily on a classical course of study, but become interested in advancing new specializations. This is advised in a chapter 6 section of our text regarding diversifying missions. Professors and individuals in higher education entities should be very interested and aware of what our economy is in need of so that students in any major can learn relevant material to help them in their daily life and help society in the field they choose to pursue a career in.

Part 2 of the article states that by 2018, the economy will have 46.8 million openings and 13.8 million brand new jobs. This makes sense given the knowledge stated in the YouTube video as well regarding constant technology changes. What is interesting is that this information is not just based upon population, but rather that there will be continued changes in plenty of fields and this will allow for new jobs that we do not even have today. Many faculty members have had careers in their field before they looked into teaching college. I think it would be a great idea if they explored many different careers based upon their majors so they can have a heads up on potential new careers that may exist. This truly has an impact on how I operate because if I were an Academic Director, I would want to hire individuals who had a wider variety of work experience before they taught.