Andrew Allen’s Post

Cool job opening at U of Wisconsin School of Business. Director of Experiential Learning. They're doing some exciting things there - check it out! https://lnkd.in/esnsD4W2

FutureU is my favorite podcast on higher ed. So I was thrilled to hear the shoutout to Gies College of Business - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for the work we do in experiential learning. Thanks Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo! ❓ There are big questions about the value of Higher Ed and this specific episode dives into them and gives schools ideas on how to succeed in this context. Worth a listen! 🤑 Students want to know that college will pay off. The uncertainty of what's on the other end of college drives potential students away. ⬆ Students also want the long-term upward mobility that college can provide ✔ Schools can't guarantee students will get a job when they graduate. But at Gies, there are MANY reasons we have a 97% career outcomes rate. One is that we have a history of being learner-centric and have designed the entire experience around learner success. Another big reason is that we integrate deep, real-world experiences into our program... not just once, but over and over and over, from day 1 until graduation. Thanks to great leaders like those listed below, this approach has been a game-changer for us at Gies. W. Brooke Elliott Jeff Brown Jacob Kinsey Kristina Wright Elizabeth Chominski https://lnkd.in/gnfsyBtf

We're looking for great companies to work with our MS in technology management students this summer. If you're thinking about ways to use technology to improve processes or enhance your business, or if you want to develop some business cases for specific technology you're looking at, these student teams could be a great resource for you. https://lnkd.in/gHY4uNwT 

High school graduation rates in the US have gone way up, yet academic standards and performance have gone down. The first 8 minutes of this podcast from The Economist is really interesting. Based on their study, The Economist found that in their efforts to boost high school graduation, schools have lowered their standards. In an effort to increase equity (by lowering requirements and graduation standards), schools have actually increased inequities, the divide between high and low performing students has grown. Lots of potential takeaways. One is that *metrics drive behavior*. If "graduation" is the all-important metric, organization may make decisions that are counter-productive if there aren't other balancing metrics and priorities. In education (in my case, higher ed) what do we measure, and does it drive behavior that leads to the results that really matter? https://lnkd.in/gEdGAPXs

If you're a student at the UofI, joining IBC is one the best ways to set yourself on a great career trajectory, meet awesome people and build real-world skills.

Graduation! This was one of two graduation ceremonies I attended last week. Sometimes I get a little cynical about all the “pomp and circumstance” and ceremony at these events. But two thoughts came to me during the ceremony that changed my attitude: 1. The ceremony would go faster if we just printed everyone’s name on a sheet of paper, held it up in the air and said- congrats to everyone on this list! But efficiency isn’t the point in this case. It’s recognizing each person, one by one. Each one matters. Each person accomplished the goal. Each person made the effort. And each person had someone(s) supporting them along the way. Which one of those people should we not recognize? Which one should not get the chance to have their name read? 2. Sometimes pomp and circumstance is worth it. Sometimes you have to stop and celebrate - whether it’s at the end or along the way. Sometimes it’s worth dressing up, wearing a funny hat and enjoying the moment to reflect and be grateful for the journey.

Are college graduates prepared for life after college? Employers largely agree that college prepares students for work, but there's some nuance. In this graphic from AAC&U, you see a gap between skills that are "very important" and for which students are "very prepared". McKinsey found that while more education leads to better skills in some areas, that correlation is not true for other skills such as: self-confidence, empathy, coping with uncertainty, risk-taking and resolving conflicts. What are your schools doing to ensure students gain these skills? And as I would argue, it's not just a skills gap, it's an experience gap. The right kinds of real-world experiences with the right support in place will lead to those critical skills. https://lnkd.in/g6pzPa82 https://lnkd.in/g9BvV3ME

Friday is a good day to celebrate. The Gies student experience is all about real world learning and making an impact. End of semester is the culmination. In the past two weeks we saw 800 freshmen do presentations to companies who traveled from around the state to be there. We saw undergrads and grads in our action learning courses and in IBC deliver recommendations to ~140 companies and nonprofits after working for 14 weeks on exciting projects for clients such as the Chicago Transit Authority, KPMG US and companies in financial services, manufacturing, retail, travel, agriculture …etc. We also saw 460 seniors complete “purpose projects”. THEY chose what to work on. Projects ranged from raising money for K-12 school supplies, increasing volunteerism at a homeless shelter, teaching personal finance to high school students, creating a website and marketing materials for a nonprofit, helping others in their career paths and supporting animal shelters. Think about it, 900 Gies Seniors every year, making an impact in communities around the state, country and globe. And that’s part of the required curriculum at Gies! Special thanks to Larry Gies for making these moments so special for our students and for teaching them about leading with purpose. Our Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen even joined the celebration! And big shout outs to: Sandra C. Heather Swenddal, PhD Mike Bednar, James Noonan Kari Keating Mingshuang Ji, Jeff Kurtz Michal Szymanski Aimee Barbeau Heejin Kim Ph.D. Judith White Jacob Kinsey Elizabeth Chominski Kristie P. Paskvan, MBA, CPA Kristina Wright Jeff Brown W. Brooke Elliott

We often hear about the public's decreasing confidence in higher education. Gallup found that only 36% of the public had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in higher ed. (Down from 57% in 2015, a huge drop). But if you ask employers the same question, you get a totally different response. More than 80% of employers either "strongly" or "somewhat" agree that higher ed prepares young people for the workforce. Almost half of all employers feel "strongly" that this is the case. If the "consumers" (employers) of the higher education product (young graduates) have confidence in higher ed, why doesn't the public? Any thoughts? Link to the AAC&U report here https://lnkd.in/g9BvV3ME