Educational Leadership

The education minister is putting a rocket under the way business and universities work together.

Can a student’s learning experience be accurately summarized in a list of courses and grades? Leaders at some institutions believes the traditional transcript is ready for a big makeover.

The assumption that a college education should take four years is baked into American culture. Colleges in the colonial days were founded on the premise of a four-year degree, a

The headline on the front page of the business section in the Boston Globe on Monday, November 9, 2015 said, “State facing lack of labor, Job-training system falling short, study says.”

This must have instantly caught the attention of the local higher education community. How could there be a labor shortage in Boston, a metropolitan area known for its concentration of colleges and universities with a strong tradition of supplying a trained workforce for area industries? In 2009, Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that the Boston area was home to over 80 private colleges and universities employing 68,600 people and attracting over 360,000 students from all over the world. These institutions generate a substantial number of jobs, attract and graduate a well-educated workforce that feeds the local high technology, medicine, biotechnology and financial services industries. The education sector is a major contributor to the area’s prominence as a center for higher education and research and supports local economic growth.

It is not news that college in the United States is extortionately, inexcusably expensive. Much ink has been spilled about just how expensive: up to a ...