Earlier this month, the Postsecondary Value Commission, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released a report entitled Equitable Value: Promoting Economic Mobility and Social Justice through Postsecondary Education.
Here, they sought to re-define the value of a college education and how we might go about measuring a university's effectiveness in preparing students for success. In addition, the report seeks to address the valuable impact college-educated young adults can have on society and that the return on investment of a college education goes far beyond the individual student. Finally, the report cites work from Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce which finds that closing racial and socioeconomic disparities in educational attainment could have a major economic impact on our country - estimated at $764 billion annually.
From the executive summary of their report:
Students experience postsecondary value when provided equitable access and support to complete quality, affordable credentials that offer economic mobility and prepare them to advance racial and economic justice in our society.
Other key points from the report:
- Need for high quality public data on universities' effectiveness
- Access and affordability should be critical metrics of university effectiveness in providing value to students and society
If higher education is to regain the public's trust, it must be more inclusive and practical. Unfortunately, US News & World Report and other college rankings have historically included selectivity as a key metric in evaluating universities, which incentivizes institutions to be MORE selective instead of more accessible. Fortunately, admission rates have been removed from the US News scoring system but many criticisms of the metrics that drive its rankings remain.
By practical, I mean colleges and universities must ensure students are gaining useful skills and experiences that will help them in life. These are not just the latest in-demand skills (coding) which will change over time but higher-order problem solving and communication skills that will pay dividends in a variety of contexts long after students graduate.
Read more about this work from Inside Higher Ed:
See also:
The U.S. Education System Isn’t Giving Students What Employers Need
