The changing role of career services and academic advising

As university graduates face increasingly challenging labor markets, the role of career services in higher education is becoming more vital. Graduate outcomes are top of mind for learners and their families, and career services staff are key in helping students develop learning pathways, build employable skills, and shape lifelong careers.

Institutions who prioritize career services will see continued enrollment growth as more students and parents realize the importance of career outcomes and employability. To facilitate this shift, a robust curriculum management system can support career services staff and student advisors by providing students the best and most accurate advice and information possible.

According to Gartner® – 

“Universities that improve processes and leverage data to enable them to revise curriculum and implement new programs at speed will have a competitive advantage over universities that refuse to change.”¹

¹ Gartner, Predicts 2023: Education Will See Consolidation, Competition and Creativity, Tony Sheehan, Grace Farrell, Kelly Calhoun Williams, Paul Riley, Saher Mahmood, Marlena Brown and Robert Yanckello, Nov 29, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

How has the role of career services in higher education changed over the years?

Most colleges and universities have their own dedicated career services office and/or department to assist with career-related matters, from working with students to develop learning pathways and achieve milestones within their program’s curriculum to professional development workshops, career planning, and networking events. 

Here are just a few ways in which career services offices have had to adapt to the changing higher education landscape and new institutional goals.

1. Institutional need to demonstrate ROI

The conversation about the return on investment (ROI) of a college education has perhaps never been more prominent, and learners are eager to see evidence of student success after graduation. Getting a good or better job is the number one reason Americans value higher education – a perception that’s shared in many countries around the world.

“Most of us see higher education as one of the best paths to a rewarding career,” says UK-based Higher Ed Partners. “It’s a view supported by the increasing number of jobs that require an undergraduate degree – a figure that’s even higher in the UK (circa 35%) than in many other OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries (29%).”

“Graduates who strongly agree the courses they took in college are relevant to their work and that they learned important skills during their education are a whopping 5.5x more likely to strongly agree their education was worth the cost. Yet only 26% of all graduates hit the mark here.” 

Forbes

2. Services for alumni

Traditionally intended for current students, career services are increasingly being opened up to alumni of the institution as well. These services offer alumni continued support with lifelong learning options (such as micro-credentials), particularly as changing jobs and industries become more and more common. The average worker in the U.S. stays with the same employer for 4.1 years, while in the UK, the average is around five years.

“Alumni and continuing education students are looking to their colleges for leading-edge professional development and career advancement support to span their years in the workforce. Colleges that respond to these needs provide valuable reasons for alumni and community members to engage with and value their campus," says the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

3. New administrative oversight

In the last five years, more college career services units are moving out from under the umbrella of student affairs. Instead, they are often found under or working with academics, under the President, or even in a division of their own. These changes “[underscore] the evolution in how career services is being viewed and valued — not only by students but by college leaders as well,” says the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

4. An emerging voice in institutional strategy

Also reflecting this shift in institutional perspective, improving career services units is becoming an essential part of universities’ strategic plans. 

According to Gartner® – 

“Higher education institutions must create a strategic plan that focuses on improving career services as part of their value proposition. Recognize that a greater focus on career is an integral part of student expectations, as more students focus on the return on tuition investment, and job placement upon graduation. Bolster relevant courses, programs or certificates, or partner with career service vendors to directly impact on student enrollment in the short and long term.”²

² Gartner, Top Business Trends Impacting Higher Education in 2022, Glenda Morgan, Tony Sheehan, Robert Yanckello, Terri-Lynn Thayer, Grace Farrell, Jan-Martin Lowendahl and Saher Mahmood, Feb 11, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

So, how can curriculum management support career services?

Career services offices rely on up-to-date and easy-to-understand information about their institution’s academic offerings to ensure that students are progressing toward their program’s goals and building appropriate skills along the way. Comprehensive digital curriculum management systems are an ideal way institutions can be assured that their academic information is accurate, but also that they are preparing students for successful outcomes upon graduation.

Curriculum management systems like CourseLoop can help support career services by:

• Using a robust data model to ensure that curriculum information is derived from a definitive source of truth, reducing the legal risk of data inaccuracies as well as retention problems if programs don’t deliver on advertised outcomes.
• Facilitating a streamlined, multi-level approval process that makes changing curriculum easier and more effective through dynamic workflow and collaboration tools.
• Allowing institutions to identify programmatic gaps to continuously improve their curriculum and keep pace with changing job markets through curriculum mapping.
• Making program discovery simple by presenting curriculum information via highly-consumable, dynamic course catalogs that are easy to browse and navigate.
• Enabling institutions to create and publish study plans that make it easy for staff to plan and recommend pathways, propelling students to reach their goals and achieve employable skills and credentials.

Robust curriculum management systems can offer improved functionality in curriculum review, curriculum mapping, catalog publishing and student advising products, which all work to improve workflow and capabilities in the student advising and career services domain.

CourseLoop is a true end-to-end curriculum management system with superior ease of integration and user experience. Discover the advanced solution that's elevating student success worldwide.

References: 

¹ Gartner, Predicts 2023: Education Will See Consolidation, Competition and Creativity, Tony Sheehan, Grace Farrell, Kelly Calhoun Williams, Paul Riley, Saher Mahmood, Marlena Brown and Robert Yanckello, Nov 29, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

² Gartner, Top Business Trends Impacting Higher Education in 2022, Glenda Morgan, Tony Sheehan, Robert Yanckello, Terri-Lynn Thayer, Grace Farrell, Jan-Martin Lowendahl and Saher Mahmood, Feb 11, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.