How Higher Education Can Evolve To Meet The Needs Of Next-Generation Learners

 

Kathleen deLaski’s new book, Who Needs Collage Anymore?: Imagining A Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter, offers an optimistic yet practical assessment of how postsecondary education can evolve to meet the needs of next-generation learners. ​She reimagines what higher education might offer and whom it should serve.

This is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of employment, education, and the economy. deLaski shows that we are on the cusp of a Great College Reset in which workforce training, college, and corporate training become more interchangeable—requiring unprecedented coordination between public, private, and educational institutions and new ways of thinking about the future of work. 

In the wake of declining US university enrollment and widespread crises of confidence in the value of a college degree, deLaski urges a mindset shift regarding the learning routes and credentials that best prepare students for success after high school. 

"Can the four-year degree be saved? Not for most learners, I would argue," says deLaski. "The percentage of adults who believe college is not worth the cost has surged from 42% to 56% in the last decade, and a striking 62% say they prefer short-term skills training and non-degree credentials over traditional degree programs."

deLaski’s book draws on a decade of design-thinking research from the nonprofit Education Design Lab as well as 150 interviews of educational experts, college and career counselors, teachers, employers, and learners. 

She urges institutions to better attend to the needs of new-majority learners, often described as nontraditional students, including people from low- or moderate-income backgrounds, people of color, first-generation students, veterans, single mothers, rural students, part-time attendees, and neurodivergent students. 

Fortunately, she finds ample opportunities for colleges to support learners via alternative pathways to marketable knowledge, including bootcamps, skills-based learning, and apprenticeships, career training, and other types of workplace learning. 

Within the book, deLaski covers: 

The historical context of college degrees and how their perceived value is changing in today's economy—which jobs still need a degree? Which ones don’t? Which industries are making the move? 

Proven alternate pathways to success, including blue- and white-collar apprenticeships and motivated self-starters who use YouTube, Reddit, and webinars to learn valuable coding or marketing skills. 

Ten design principles to redefine college as a place where workforce training, corporate education, and traditional college paths merge and make a flexible and inclusive system for today’s learners. 

 

Kathleen deLaski

deLaski shares these additional insights with us: 

Question: Can the four-year degree be saved? 

DeLaski: Not for most learners, I would argue. Once less expensive alternative pathways become clearer and surer, a full-on degree will seem impractical for new majority learners. And the new majority learners are, by definition, most learners. The four-year degree has been the market signal we’ve led with for almost four hundred years in this country. But why does the degree have to be the only product that colleges sell? And why can’t the American Dream be achieved by other college products, other constructs of career preparation or adultification? 

Question: How do you define “new-majority learners,” and why is it crucial for educational institutions to focus on their needs? 

deLaski: New majority learners is a 21st century way to describe all the types of students for whom college was not designed. And today these students comprise a majority of higher education learners. These are students who not so long ago were excluded from college altogether and who even now find the barriers to success are strong. Some of these groups include Black and brown students, Indigenous students, single parents, students who come from poverty, or live with a disability. They include English language learners, veterans, and anyone who has to work while in college to pay for school. 

Question: What is your message to people who have, for generations, heard that the fastest route to success is a college degree? 

deLaski: The four-year degree is still the default path for families who are not financially constrained. But that’s fewer and fewer people. The good news is that in many fields today, like tech, business, parts of health care, creative arts, you can work your way to professional success by building experience and getting certifications–often without going to college. 

In the book, I provide four profiles of learners who can afford to skip the degree, like the Motivated Self-starter or the Connected Career-Switcher. Succeeding in one of these alternate routes basically depends on four factors: your bankroll, your network, your self-motivation, and choosing a field that doesn’t require a degree. 

Question: What are some successful examples of alternative education pathways or nondegree credentials that you highlight in the book? 

deLaski: Colleges, particularly community colleges, have long offered short-term certificates. And many are now formalizing “micro-pathways” to ready students for specific job role needs in their regions. In fact, a million students a year now go to college to obtain certificates. But these programs, as well as commercially provided bootcamps, are not usually subsidized by student loans or grants. And they should be. Some of the best programs are aimed at lower-income learners, such as YearUp and Merit America. But they rely on employers and philanthropists to fund the model. 

Question: How can colleges and high schools adapt their structure and curriculum to better align with the evolving job market? 

deLaski: Surveys suggest 52% of students who do graduate from college are underemployed, meaning they don’t land jobs that require a degree. Part of it is because employers increasingly say that they want to hire candidates who have experience. A chicken and egg problem. 

So, colleges (and high schools) need to make it their job to help students gain experience. Apprenticeships, internships, even simulated work projects will help students cross the “experience chasm.” This change requires colleges to step up their employer and community engagement departments. One college, Northeastern University, which does this well, has 250 internship facilitators. 

Question: How can families support young adults in making informed decisions about their education and career paths? 

deLaski: I never discourage a young person from attending college if they want that path. If they are feeling ambivalent or anxious, but college won’t break the family bank, I say give it a try, you’ll at least learn what you don’t like. For financially constrained families, I recommend advising your students to earn industry certifications in high school. One fifth of students in community college today are actually high school students taking classes. Apprenticeship programs are starting to gain ground beyond the trades. I profile an insurance company in the book, for example, which starts its apprentices in high school. And community colleges have many short-term certificate programs. These are ways to build your earning power as you decide whether you need more training. 

To gain information on the quality of college programs that are also affordable, I recommend websites such as College Scorecard. 

Question: What challenges do you anticipate in shifting the perception of higher education from traditional degrees to skills-based learning? 

deLaski: The biggest challenge I worry about is less about the perception, but what happens to the broader learning that we lose if our society moves to just-in-time technical skill building. 

If my predictions are correct, that by the mid-century mark only 30% of learners will earn a four-year degree, and students continue to move away from humanities majors, how will we learn about critical thinking—still one of the top requested skills by employers globally. Not to mention civic engagement.

Question: What if colleges, high schools, employers or communities and families want to explore these issues further in their own context? 

deLaski: I’ve provided discussion guides for each of these groups in the book. And I am available to come to regions to help facilitate workshops.

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deLaski is the founder and board chair of the Education Design Lab, which works with colleges, states, and employers to design shorter, more targeted forms of higher education. 

She also serves as a senior advisor for Harvard's Project on the Workforce and teaches higher ed redesign at George Mason University. 

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.