U.S. Secretary of Labor Acosta to Speak at Release of New APLU Report: ‘Ready for Jobs, Careers, and a Lifetime: Public Research Universities and Credentials that Count’

U.S. Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta will headline the closing session at the APLU Annual Meeting that will feature the release and discussion of a new APLU report, Ready for Jobs, Career, and a Lifetime: Public Research Universities and Credentials that Count. Those who are not attending other APLU Annual Meeting sessions, but would like to attend the final session on job and career preparedness (at no cost) are asked to RSVP.

The new report calls for a “renewed commitment and responsiveness” from public research universities to ensure that their students are prepared to enter the workforce with meaningful credentials. Students are clear that their primary purpose for enrolling in college is to get a good job upon graduation and to put themselves on a path to a successful career. But are universities adequately preparing students for life after school?

Employers argue that universities must do more to prepare the workforce. But many university professors and leaders argue that while employability is important, such a focus threatens their institutions’ responsibility to provide students with a broader education. How can universities resolve this tension to offer credentials that prepare students for jobs, careers, and life overall?

The forum will tackle these and other questions. In addition to Labor Secretary Acosta, speakers are Kevin Carey, director of education policy at New America; Emily DeRocco, director of education and workforce at LIFT Manufacturing Institute; Amy Firestone, program analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship; University of Toledo President Sharon Gaber; Florida International University President Mark Rosenberg; and Martin Van Der Werf, Associate Director of Editorial and Postsecondary Policy at the Georgetown University Center for Education and Workforce.