BHEF 2020 Winter Meeting Key Themes FINAL

® Creating Solutions. Inspiring Action. WINTER MEMBER MEETING February 13-14, 2020 Key emes © 2020 Business-Higher Education Forum 2 2020 BHEF Winter Member Meeting Recently, with a National Science Foundation (NSF) digital upskilling planning grant, BHEF assessed digital-upskilling demand in the DMV (DC–Maryland–Virginia) region. This process of measuring demand, assessing existing higher educa- tion capacity, and identifying gaps has resulted in breakthrough market intelligence regarding current and future upskilling demand and opportunities to develop new strategies for engag- ing working adults in agile digital learning. Most importantly, the success in DMV offers a replicable solution to be adapted elsewhere. As learners’ needs evolve, they are seeking alternatives to traditional degrees that emphasize skill development. Many of today’s adult learners are juggling a great deal. They are increasingly pursuing earn-and-learn or “go pro first” (work first and then pursue school) models. This new reality requires that higher education shed its preconceptions around who learners are (their age, experience, and life situation) and the sequence of earning and work. Higher education and employers must recognize and support these fluid pathways—between work and learning, micro-credentials and traditional degrees, and more. Today’s learners—whether they identify primarily as learners or employees—are not necessarily seeking a traditional degree or a full credential. Instead, they value smaller units of learning that are modular, stackable, and flexible. They evaluate educational choices by relevance and ability to apply workplace skills. And they seek credentials offered by highly respected institutions, which signals the quality of the credential. An example of this type of learning experience is a partner- ship between the University of Maryland Global Campus and Amazon, which offers micro-credentialing and customized reskilling. BHEF members gathered in Washington, D.C. on February 13 and 14 for the Winter 2020 Member Meeting. BHEF CEO Brian Fitzgerald led a market intelligence briefing on the digital up- skilling supply-and-demand challenge in the D.C. region. Panels with leaders from business and higher education then discussed: ƒEnabling Lifelong Learners: Insights from Learning Science and the Credential Marketplace ƒConnecting Work-Based Learning Models with Credentials ƒUpskilling, Reskilling, and Credentials: Winning Strategies for Talent Retention and Development ƒSupplement or Supplant – Credentials and Academic Degrees These panels focused on the critical aspects of partnerships be- tween business and higher education to meet current and future workforce needs. Panelists offered their perspectives on lifelong learning, discussed upskilling challenges and opportunities for increasing diversity and inclusion, shared partnership successes, examined stackable, portable credentials, and emphasized the importance of transparency. The success of BHEF’s model in building strong ecosystems is based on forming effective partnerships between business and higher education, while simultaneously using market intelligence to overcome weak signaling of skills. BHEF’s model uses market intelligence to identify specific, high-demand skills—today and in the future. Partnerships have been formed around the country to build pathways, develop di- verse talent, implement credentialing models, and close skill gaps. E xamples include projects from the Workforce Partnership Initia- tive with the Business Roundtable and Northeastern’s application of these principles to launch a new ecosystem in Portland, Maine. 2020 BHEF Winter Member Meeting Jennifer Thornton, vice president, programs, Business-Higher Education Forum David Metnick, managing director, Accenture North America © 2020 Business-Higher Education Forum 3 2020 BHEF Winter Member Meeting An additional hurdle is that businesses often perceive the ROI of upskilling as hard to assess. Additionally, all efforts focused on lifelong learning must improve diversity and inclusion. Yet some firms, such as PwC, see a strong business case supporting a company-wide investment in learning, diversity, and inclusion. PwC has embraced gamification as a way to personalize and engage employees in learning to enhance digital skills, which the firm sees as a worth- while and differentiating investment. More information and recommendations can be found in the BHEF-PwC whitepa- per, Reskilling—a solution for the digital skills gap, available online. ƒHigher education must support educational offerings that are modular, stackable, flexible, and resilient—with portable content. The most successful offerings will be developed in an agile way based on engagement with business and with interdisciplinary collaboration. Learning science is an advancing field and offers insights that improve learners’ experiences and motivation. While this partnership is a success story, further progress is still required. Market research in the DMV region found that digital technology credential programs at DMV higher education institutions continue to offer too few accessible, flexible options for working adult learners, and these options are often offered at too high a price. Continuous technological change in the workplace requires that all stakeholders embrace lifelong learning. Rapid technological changes affect all sectors, decreasing the shelf life of skills and accelerating the need for continuous learning. For employees and employers, work/learning is a continuum and all stakeholders have a role. ƒEmployees must embrace ongoing skills development, recogniz- ing that their value to their employer increases as they gain new skills. Additionally, their value on the job market also increases as they acquire relevant, in-demand knowledge in their field. ƒEmployers must engage in rigorous assessments of their present and future needs. This requires strategic workforce planning conducted in conjunction with academic partners. Typically, however, employers are not systematic about ongoing learning in their workforce, despite the advantages it can offer in terms of retention and diversity and diversity and inclusion. Megan Hanik, US Tax Human Capital director, PwC; Yvette Burton, professor, Professional Practice in Human Capital Management; academic director, Columbia University; Jacqueline Welch, senior vice president, chief human resources officer, and chief diversity officer, Freddie Mac; David Zaharchuk, research director, IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM Corporation; Judy Olian, president, Quinnipiac University © 2020 Business-Higher Education Forum 4 2020 BHEF Winter Member Meeting Transparency is essential, but means many different things and serves varying roles. Transparency about what skills will be needed is foundational, and artificial intelligence can play a role in improving business- es’ knowledge of their own needs. Transparency by employers regarding skills and career pathways can ameliorate the perception of the impact of artificial intelli- gence and machine learning on jobs, which undergirds much of the attention and anxiety around upskilling. If employers are transparent that machine learning may eliminate repetitive tasks, they can build trust, enabling them to explain the antici- pated changes and provide support to upskilling for higher-or- der jobs for incumbent employees. For employees, transparency provides visibility into what skills are in demand and will be demanded in the future. This knowl- edge opens up available career pathways by showing where stackable credentials might lead. In building partnerships, business and higher education leaders must be transparent with each other about their needs and the shortcomings of traditional offerings. Openness is required about the marketplace and employees needs in order to create effective solutions. Stackable micro-credentials can have benefits for all stakeholders. But there must be broad understanding, portability, quality assurance, and value. Credential portability requires that credentialing systems must meet workforce-specific demands and create generalizable systems of record that translate and document the learning. When credentials are clearly understood and valued, employees are better equipped to navigate the choices and engineer their career pathway. Credential portability is a necessity as a means of enhancing the value of these types of alternative credentials. The objective is for credentials to be widely understood across different employ- ers, regions, and industries. This portability will demonstrate to learners and employers which credentials have the greatest value in the market. From the perspective of employers, HR professionals are chal- lenged to understand the array of badges, certificates, and other credentials. This myriad hurts their ability to assure a talent pipeline, thus quality assurance when assessing the worth of new credentials in hiring is crucial. But clarity around credential offerings can build value with all stakeholders. Everyone gains when they are more informed about what these badges and certificates signify. Similarly, all sides benefit from an easy-to-use navigational system for vari- ous credentialing options. Monique Baptiste, VP program officer, Workforce Strategies, Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Holly Zanville, strategy director, Future of Learning and Work, Lumina Foundation; Ken Eisner, director, Worldwide Education Programs, Amazon Web Services; Kemi Jona, assistant vice chancellor, Digital Innovation and Enterprise Learning, Northeastern University; Mary Papazian, president, San José State University