Giving higher education a tune-up: Utah takes steps to ensure students have right skills for workforce

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's higher education officials are working to make sure its college students are in tune with the industries they want to work in.

More than ever, a college education is becoming expected for many industries. National education data shows a majority of employers in the U.S. expect some level of post-secondary education and that number is expected to grow.

Utah is one of a handful of states that is working to clearly identify the knowledge and skills expected by employers in a variety of industries.

In a method called "tuning," faculty from Utah's eight institutions of higher learning who teach the same subjects meet to discuss the fundamental knowledge students need to become engineers, physicists, historians, teachers, etc. State higher-education officials also meet with industry officials in order to get a feel for what skills students need to have when the enter the workforce.

"We can say to employers, this is what a student understands and can do," Janice Gygi, director of the Utah Tuning Project, said. While tuning is just beginning to catch on in other states, Gygi said Utah's colleges and universities have been evaluating courses and degree requirements for a decade now.

Utah's work caught the eye of the prestigious Lumina Foundation for Education, one of the nation's largest foundations that is dedicated to expanding access to education after high school. In 2009, the foundation gave Utah a $150,000 grant, along with Indiana and Wisconsin. This month, Utah officials announced that the Lumina Foundation had expanded its grant to another $390,000.

The ultimate goal of tuning, Gygi said, is to make it clear to students, parents and policymakers what a student must know and be able to do for each major and degree level. For lawmakers, the approach gives them information so they can allocate resources based on an understanding of what a given degree means for students, society and industry.

Based on feedback from various industries, Gygi said many employers say they want students with skills in problem solving, written/spoken communication and critical thinking. The challenge is that each of those skills are taught in a different way depending on the discipline. It will take time to identify needs for each area.

"We are working on making sure that we're giving students what they need," said Phyllis Safman, assistant commissioner of academic affairs for Utah System of Higher Education. Safman said tuning is time intensive and requires faculty from multiple institutions to meet.