Universities operate on a 1,000-year-old organizational model wherein academic rigor is the goal.  Academic rigor is among the primary qualities accreditation organizations seek when granting credentials to a university.

The reason many people associate higher education with career success is attributed to the period after World War II. Servicemen, upon returning from battle, received free college educations as gratitude for defending the country. Also after the war, the economy of the United States boomed and a huge section of US citizens became educated and successful in their careers. Their educations and success were unrelated but became associated because of their concurrence.

As demand for higher education grew, colleges and universities competed to attract their fair shares of the growing market. They did so by promoting accredited degrees in non-academic subject areas including hospitality, broadcasting, social media, computer science, and other quasi-fun, profitable or glamorous businesses. The coursework was presented to students as a qualification for sector-specific careers but, in fact, it wasn’t.  And isn’t.

Few institutions of higher learning devote meaningful resources to student career success.  They continue along their mission of academic rigor dispensed by an erudite faculty. Plus, the growth of many has morphed them into strong and bottom-line-driven corporations (but instead of paying dividends to stockholders, they fortify their endowment funds).

Still, it’s important to note that college graduates are more likely to achieve success over their non-college educated counterparts. Whether that success is the result of higher education is a matter open to question.

However, in the future, career readiness will become a major selling point for many institutions when developing their marketing strategies to attract new students. It’s a current quandary for many universities. To truly make students ready for the workplace will need some major shifts in thinking for these respected institutions. It will mark the hybridization of universities and trade schools and will require a new type of accreditation.