LAU Response to the Challenge of Labor Market Readiness

The higher education sector is currently undergoing cataclysmic changes. In part, these changes are related to the quest for Labor Market Readiness given the radical changes that have all but changed the employment landscape. The scene today is transitional, moving from a discipline-specific paradigm to interdisciplinary approaches emphasizing readiness for meeting Labor Market Challenges head-on. Universities are coming up with various responses to reinforce their relevance to a future labor market that is still something of an enigma to most of us. The difficulty derives from having to respond to challenges that are still in the making. A heated debate on market readiness is currently raging in the US among major universities and casting a shadow on the entire higher education scene. Our concern in this issue of the Forum is with specific steps that have been/are being taken by LAU in response to this same challenge of market readiness. The broad header is future-proofing our graduates for a world we know little about where new skills and competencies will be needed.

Strategic Responses by LAU

The strategic response of LAU to the labor market challenges created by sweeping digital changes falls into four distinct categories:

• Introducing new Interdisciplinary majors and spreading awareness about them. The list includes AI, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Genetics, and Cybersecurity. These majors are interdisciplinary and often inter-school, calling on us to find new ways for integration and problem-solving that are not part of the classical wisdom in academic organization. Efforts are currently underway for adding these majors which will produce graduates at the cutting edge of the know-how that drives the current and future labor market. Some are already available as online programs.

• Working on introducing Stackable Certificates and Diplomas that LAU students can enroll in alongside their “mainstream” study to acquire additional labor market-relevant skills. Some of these certificates and diplomas will be made available through our Academy for Continuing Education (ACE), while others might be offered by one or more schools. On the training board currently are certificates/diplomas in all the digital areas listed above as well as some “soft skills” certificates. The list could include Communication, Soft Skills, Emotional Intelligence, and Self-Leadership. In parallel, we could also offer a number of free workshops covering Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, and the preparation of Résumés.

• Making Experiential Learning a cornerstone experience for LAU students. Over the past few years, LAU pioneered Experiential Learning in a number of Schools including Medicine, Pharmacy, Business, and Architecture and Design. It was for us a way to build into the educational experience of our students’ hands-on skills and market reality before they graduate. Every bit as much, it was a way for our students to put what they were studying in perspective, assess adjustments they will have to make in the world of practice, and hit the ground running with the benefit of experience gained while still studying.

• Underscoring the need to equip students with soft skills, including emotional intelligence, effective communication, public speaking, team building, etc.

LAU plans to expand the domain of the four new areas listed to practically cover the entire gamut of our academic menu. This will go hand in hand with expanding the domain of experiential learning to include self-awareness skills, organizational behavior skills, communication skills, and expectations management skills. We expect our capacity-building efforts in the domain of experiential learning to receive major reinforcement through two related steps already in place but still undergoing expansion.

The first of these two steps was creating the Industrial Hub on the Byblos campus as a sustainability-driven partnership between LAU and industry. We have already signed with some companies and negotiations are underway with others. When it is in full bloom, the LAU Industrial Hub will be a major building on the Byblos campus bearing testimony to the depth of our commitment to working with industry, particularly in the information and IT sectors. To the same degree, it will also be a major hub for experiential learning and a key differentiator offering our students a clear career edge. It will serve as a center for fusing study and experience in one integrated learning track for a creative interplay between theory and practice. In the same spirit, the PMRC (Bioequivalence) Center on the Byblos campus as well is already in progress.

The second step is expanding the domain of leadership training available on our campus with a view to further instilling values of responsible citizenship, civic duty, commitment to sustainability and readiness for change.

A Word of Caution

The urgent need to rethink the dominant paradigm in higher education to bring it closer to present and future labor market reality does not in any way diminish the role of a modern university as a learning community. The reform needed should not be understood as a call to turn universities into training centers for the labor market. They will, of course, continue to be major hubs for creating new ideas, making spectacular advances, and shaping the future. What the reform drive aims for is narrowing the gap between “gown” and “town” by bringing about closer alignment of skills and expectations. It is simply a reminder that we should, as an academic institution, do our part in the midst of a massive transformative change where only the direction is known but not the destination. 

Toward a Market-Readiness Index

The trend toward greater university emphasis on market readiness is already apparent at many universities. At LAU, it is a commitment and a major pillar for our future planning. One key manifestation of this commitment is working on an institutionally developed market readiness index that would serve as a guideline to gauge our efforts in this direction. Several elements will go into computing the market readiness index. They include inter-alia:

• Percent of curriculum/courses taken that are market readiness oriented. Experiential Learning is part of this.

• Market input into the learning process offered to students through guest speakers, site assignments, special projects, etc.

• Employability rates within six months of graduation.

• Tracking career progress of graduates five or more years after graduation.

• Employers’ feedback garnered through surveys and interviews.

• Alumni feedback and testimonials.

Given that other universities will in all likelihood be doing something similar, there should be room for comparisons and benchmarking.

LAU is amply aware that what we have already done barely amounts to first shy steps along the long road to the future. We are determined, however, to create conditions that will allow what is now a mere drizzle to grow into a torrent that will make us early adopters of the future face of higher education.