Abstract:

One of the main struggles for current higher education systems is the ability to predict market needs for its graduates. A typical higher education institute will spend a considerable amount of time trying to understand the current trends in the industry and how they will affect the subjects which its graduates would need to be familiar with for them to be effective in the marketplace. However, in the last decades, the industry has been rapidly changing with new technologies, new skills, and new knowledge that graduates are now required to acquire before they can be effective at the jobs. This change has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which dramatically pushed the workplace into a whole new direction. The education institutions are confronted with the fact that their curricula are becoming invalid largely by the time the graduates go through the system and apply for a job.

In this novel approach, we propose that education institutions would divide the degree into two phases, one that is quite simply the basic knowledge of the field while the other one would be an industry-guided skill. To make the system effective we propose that graduates would be allowed to join the workforce a year or two before final graduation. The graduates would be given a conditional graduation contingent on picking the skills required for them to complete their degree. The graduates could either accept the current proposed educational plan by the institution (academic subject) or they can seek guidance from one of the industrial establishments (technical subjects) gaining more technical knowledge so that they would be capable of completing their degree. The ultimate goal is for the student to have dual scientific and industrial advisors.

We further discuss how this approach will not only reduce the financial burden on the students but will also dramatically evolve the role of the educational institution.

Keywords:

Education, Skills, Industry, Curriculum Design.