佛罗里达州马可岛. -- Whenever presidents of private liberal arts colleges gather, the topic of their graduates' career readiness is near the top of their minds.

This year's Council of Independent Colleges Presidents Institute is no different. 自从该项目于周六正式启动以来, presidents in various settings have touted their institutions' 记录 preparing students for careers and what they believe to be strong long-term 前景 为获得文科学位的学生准备的.

但是在这个群体中, worries run high that the liberal arts are being marginalized in America and the workplace. 一些校长担心家长, students and employers are overlooking their institutions and instead turning toward campuses that tilt more heavily toward science and technology majors.

So it was notable Monday when a managing director at one of the world's largest investment firms told presidents that the leaders who are its best employees are the ones who have the ability to operate outside of silos and to speak to many different types of people.

这听起来就像是文科教育,说话的人说, 乔纳森·迈克布莱德, managing director and global head of inclusion at the investment management company 贝莱德.

If the companies 贝莱德 invests in seek the same characteristics, it suggests liberal arts colleges are right to tell students about the long-term benefits of their education. The characteristics in demand add up to the ability to avoid sameness or not to favor the familiar. And it might be easier to teach those instincts when a student is on campus, 被想法包围, 而不是只在工作场所待上一小段时间.

The discussion also suggests some changes liberal arts colleges could make to keep employers happy. 在某一时刻, institutions could start certifying skills that contribute to what McBride calls inclusive leadership, just like some institutions provide certificates for coding skills.

McBride urged college leaders to fight the urge to promote too much specialization. 下一个重要技能将是自我学习，他说.

尽管如此, some liberal arts college presidents feel they struggle to communicate their value to students and families.

“不管我们对结果做了什么研究, 似乎没有人听到,安·麦克莱尼-约翰逊说, Mount St院长. 洛杉矶的玛丽大学, which draws many of its students from its local area and has a large percentage of Pell-eligible students.

McElaney-Johnson spoke at an afternoon session about promoting the labor market outcomes of the liberal arts. 像许多小型私人机构一样，Mount St. Mary's isn't entirely disregarding technical skills as it teaches human skills or soft skills. It's trying to embed technical skills into students' educational experience.

But institutions have to help students understand and tell others why their mix of skills is valuable, McElaney-Johnson说.

Communicating the value of a liberal arts degree is made more difficult by the fact that liberal arts graduates have nonlinear career paths.

关于 70 percent of liberal arts graduates do something completely different when they go from their first stable job to their second, 罗伯·森茨说, chief innovation officer at the labor market analytics firm Emsi. But even technology majors change paths between first and second jobs more than half the time.

“It almost doesn't matter what kind of degree you have,” Sentz说. “你在市场上移动.”

The labor market is demanding skills such as project management, 战略规划, 市场营销, 写作与销售, Sentz说. 为什么? 当一家公司雇人制造一台新机器时, it also has to hire someone to talk about that machine and someone to sell it. It has to hire a manager to oversee teams involved in production.

How can colleges bridge the gaps between employers and campuses -- and between what students think they want and what the labor force is demanding?

The experience of Brandman University in California might offer some insight. 布兰德曼是查普曼大学系统的一部分, 25,000名学位和证书学生, 网上课程, 以及加州和华盛顿的校园. It is also heavily involved in employer-funded degree programs and competency-based education.

布兰德曼的财政大臣兼首席执行官, 加里Brahm, 描述了他所谓的“逆向程序设计”." It involves designing degree programs by looking at the knowledge, skills and capabilities that will help employment outcomes.

Competencies from professional certifications can also be important, whether they are drawn from the Institute of Supply Management or Microsoft. Competencies can be acknowledged through credentials other than a degree, 比如学生可以获得徽章.

Degree programs can be validated by employers and outside sources of workplace data, 如燃烧玻璃, to ensure the skills really match employer needs and wants.

Brahm also stressed a need to make sure students are picking up the competencies.

“Because we will embed these competencies across the curriculum, we need to have institutionally developed standardized testing to measure how well you're doing,他说.

Much of that is a way for colleges to learn from employers and about the job market. It may be necessary work and work that some institutions are already doing -- and it may be largely new for some institutions.

Many of the college presidents in attendance Monday were happy to hear an employer, 贝莱德, 重视他们已经在做的事情.

“In a world where in fact the most important expertise is learning, 我们有多少东西要向你们学习?麦克布莱德说. “一切都.”