What do students expect from their universities?

Employers worldwide are battling with the divide between the skills they require and what would-be employees are bringing to the workforce. According to the World Economic Forum, almost 30% of companies believe that they have the digital talent they require, and a recent survey showed that a staggering 89% of executives struggle to find candidates with the right mix of soft skills like teamwork, communication and adaptability.

It is not only companies that are not getting what they want from universities and colleges. Students, the most important stakeholders in the higher education sector, also find themselves in a similar position.

After graduating, many students are at a crossroads. What do I do now? Do I go out in search of my dream graduate job? What about going one step further in my academic career and pursuing a masters degree? These are questions that students often ask but rarely get answers to.

The higher education sector needs to step up and fill the gap. Through talking to peers, research, and my own experiences, I have compiled a list of what students want from their universities.

Students want jobs after graduation

In today’s world, very few students can afford to go to college simply because it is the natural next step in their education. Students who are going to college now care far more about career outcomes.

In a 2016 report, more than 80% of students said that getting a job was a key factor in their decision to attend university. One can only imagine where that number stands now in a world that is amid an economic crisis and a global pandemic.

Reports that COVID-19 is hurting the job market are exacerbating the situation and students are worried about the impact online classes will have on career services. It is essential that higher education institutions prove their value by helping students make industry connections and lockdown job offers.

Colleges must be laser-focused on preparing students to be as ready as possible for the workplace and must play a bigger role in facilitating internships and project-based learning through industry partnerships. Career services departments must prove that they are crucial to the job hunt, rather than merely helpful.

It is also not a secret that artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over the workplace and many jobs might become obsolete in the not-so-distant future. Students want college decision-makers to shake up their budgets and invest in new programmes and technology that will prepare them for careers beyond 2025.

Colleges must show students that they are in touch with the real world and are committed to preparing them for it, too. This also entails that universities outline why students learn what they learn. Students want relevant teaching and learning.

The perfect student experience

A critical issue that universities need to deal with is transforming the student experience. While universities have been chasing innovation, research, and industry collaboration, matters that are obviously important, they often neglect the key stakeholders of the education sector.

There is a need for radical innovation that gives students a learning experience they will never forget, a deep love of lifelong learning, and transportable knowledge and skills that prepare them for the new machine age. Universities need to reinvent campuses from a collection of buildings into a living laboratory for students to invent their jobs and contribute to change.

Some universities have already implemented initiatives to enhance the student experience. This includes online lectures, more situational learning through industry placements, and the capacity to develop ideas on campus. The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), for example, are doing a terrific job of creating stronger entrepreneurship ecosystems across their various campuses.

But too many universities are continuing with teaching models that have hardly changed in decades. They have not adjusted their teaching methods to reflect the digital economy. They have made it easier for students to study off-campus, whenever and wherever, but that is an insignificant change in the scope of technology advances.

Recognising student welfare

While we want to learn about the necessary workplace skills, universities must also teach us about the importance of well-being, and propose positive practices including how to manage emotions, how to engage in the workplace, how to have positive relations with others – and most critically, how to find meaning in life.

Now, nobody teaches us that and we go through life struggling unnecessarily, not knowing how to think about life, how to think about work, or how to think about family. Investing more in mental health services will go a long way.

Meaningful personalised communication

Students appreciate regular check-in emails from institutions but are clear that they are not impressed by hollow updates from the university communications office. Universities can rectify this by improving the content of their communication with students.

Personalised communication from department heads that outlines projects, opportunities or campus jobs for individual classes are likely to be received more positively than a general update meant for the entire student body.

Students want a different, stronger relationship with their universities.

It is frustrating that this relationship often ends abruptly when a degree is awarded. Apart from alumni programmes, universities do not do enough to turn students into lifelong partners and advocates. We want universities to reimagine their relationship with us. Students want a different, longer relationship where universities are more like a coach and there for students throughout their careers, not only for three or four years when they collect students’ fees.

One way to do this could be to provide refresher courses or other initiatives once or twice a year to update students and keep them connected.

Colleges need not cut tuition fees to boost enrolment. They just need to realise that the reason for poor outcomes is that they have failed to understand what students are hoping to accomplish by attending college and start offering students what they really want.

Students should not be an afterthought in the broader debate about university research, funding, innovation and collaboration. Universities need to reorganise themselves fundamentally around student needs and wants – not just those of big business, government and academic journals.

Prince Gora, a regular contributor to University World News, is in his final year of study at the Harare Institute of Technology. His Twitter handle is @goraprince15.