Students are making more informed choices about what and where to study – or whether continued study is suitable for them at all – based on outcomes and value for money.
Employers increasingly expect graduates to have the knowledge and skills that allow them to make a meaningful contribution once hired.
Meanwhile, organizations worldwide wanting to flourish in a post-pandemic world face the singular challenge to fill skills gaps as they start to accelerate their digitization and automation programs.
This is one of the reasons PeopleCert develops professional, best practice certifications – including micro-credentials in business and IT plus language proficiency testing – to help educational institutions and their learners respond to these skills challenges and increase graduate employability.
Matching the skills industry demands
But why is this so important for today’s higher education providers and their graduates joining the workforce?
McKinsey Global Institute reported in May 2022 that “the job openings that exist are typically for higher-skilled positions and many people who are looking for work don’t have the skill sets employers are looking for…it’s a structural mismatch within the job market – and one that is growing more urgent as the adoption of automation technologies accelerates”. The McKinsey article highlighted the need to move “away from the old paradigm of four-year degrees and shift towards skills-based recruiting and more modular and targeted training and educational programs”.
By embedding global best practice certifications in higher education curricula – running parallel to core undergraduate and postgraduate studies – students, when starting employment, have already developed an understanding of certain professional capabilities currently in demand, such as project management, risk management and process improvement.
As a result, from the start of their employment, they’re speaking the professional “language” their organization needs.
And the importance of language skills extends to proving competence in English, especially for non-native speakers pursuing higher education in English-speaking countries or seeking jobs in multinational companies. International students with the right level of English skills can benefit from the large, skilled migration programs run in some countries.
This blend of best practice qualifications and English certification alongside students’ first degree and postgraduate studies increases their future employability and their ability to find relevant internships and part-time employment in their chosen fields.
Embedding professional certifications in practice
Beyond the theory of combining academic studies with professional training in the same higher education setting, this is a reality currently happening in practice in higher educational institutions across the US and in South America.
Texan universities – Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Dallas – have both embedded ITIL 4, an international IT service management framework and set of certifications – in their curricula.
As Dr Dave Sweeney, Director for Information Technology at Texas A&M, said: “Before we incorporated ITIL 4 into our Technology Management Program, our graduates would be technically competent but then they’d need to get additional training later. So, having it as part of the curriculum is now an advantage for them in the job market. Recognizing the value of ITIL certification at undergraduate level is not about becoming a trade school but preparing students for their future jobs.”
Sweeney, whose students have been studying ITIL 4 Foundation, points to the value of developing both technical skills and the ability from additional, professional training to know how to “talk to customers, sponsors and how to frame strategy and manage vendors”.
ITIL Foundation training for students at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has been in play for more than two years. When the idea was suggested to the Dean of the School of Management, he responded: “Why are we not doing this already?”
Making students career ready
Gaurav Shekhar, Program Director – MS Business Analytics at UTD, was instrumental in introducing the certification after training in ITIL himself: “ITIL is one of the most-needed skills and certifications according to the World Skills report and, with a professional certification, it’s easier for them to relate to what employers are looking for and to ask for top dollar pay,” he said.
“Every higher education institution offers courses and people get degrees, but we are making students career ready. We’re creating an environment which mimics how industry operates with companies bringing their challenges into our classrooms. This helps us evolve our curriculum and bring in certifications to improve students’ work readiness.”
And this is working across the spectrum of US higher institutions and student demographics: for example, St Xavier University in Chicago – ranked among the top 10 most diverse student populations in the Midwest, with students from mostly ethnic minority and white, blue-collar backgrounds – has adopted ITIL and PRINCE2 in its school of management.
“We are trying to make our students more marketable against the competition when students from the Ivy League or top tier have the advantage of going to prestigious schools and access to alumni in the business world,” Paul Bujak, Adjunct Professor and project manager in supply chain IT, said.
St Xavier has integrated ITIL into its technology course while PRINCE2 – a best practice project management method used worldwide – is increasing students’ knowledge about managing projects.
Bujak added: “The combination of a business degree and professional certification makes them extremely marketable – a student well educated with degrees and certifications is not only ready for the future of work but can demonstrate fluidity in learning.”
Away from IT and project management, Ohio-based Kettering College – specializing in health science education – has recently introduced the process improvement course and certification, Lean Six Sigma, for staff and students. The aim is to ensure process excellence is part of everything they do.
And further afield, the Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, has decided to embed ITIL 4, PRINCE2 and the Agile product delivery method, Scrum – again, to equip students with the skills to gain employment and plug skills gaps in industry and commerce.
Incorporating professional certifications – the PeopleCert solution
If universities want to emulate the experience already set by the range of US and other higher education institutions already outlined, PeopleCert can help them do this.
Including best practice methods and certifications alongside core curricula – covering management capabilities such as project, programme, risk, IT services and English language testing also – means that universities are giving students the skills they need to both obtain employment and add significant value once they’re there.
Developing professional competencies and expertise alongside the academic rigour of degree courses is, arguably, a key role for universities today; not least as industry’s skills and knowledge demands change with such pace and regularity.
Therefore, PeopleCert’s Education Partner programme enables higher education institutions to deliver a range of valuable industry credentials and language testing. The process includes a simple accreditation which gives access to certifications such as ITIL, PRINCE2, Scrum and Lean Six Sigma. And PeopleCert’s sister company, LanguageCert, provides testing and certification where it’s necessary for an individual to demonstrate their language proficiency.
In addition to course materials and learning resources, training is available live, virtual, hybrid or self-paced – with special pricing and student discounts.
Educational institutions now recognise the need for graduates to be career-ready when moving into their first post-study roles. Students who train in a professional, work-based best practice get an extra boost to their employability when combined with degree studies.
And this also allows the education providers to enhance their offer, in the context of students paying significant education fees and justifying their investment by achieving meaningful and well-remunerated employment following their studies.
PeopleCert’s range of certifications is uniquely placed to help students gain better employment, upskill people who have either lost jobs or are changing careers and helping existing professionals improve their promotion prospects.
For more information about becoming a PeopleCert Education Partner please email: ed.partners@peoplecert.org