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New Strada-Gallup data reveal only 26 percent of working U.S. adults with college experience strongly agree their education is relevant to their work and day-to-day life. Industry experts explore the power of relevance as the primary driver of learners’ perceptions of the value and quality of higher education and identify scalable solutions to increase relevance in postsecondary learning.
Only 26 percent of working U.S. adults with college experience strongly agree that their education is relevant to their work and day-to-day life.
Learner ratings of relevance are more powerful predictors of quality and value than demographic characteristics of individuals, their fields of study and their level of education. Relevance better predicts quality and value than gender, race, ethnicity, age, income, field of study, and attainment level.
Both two-year and four-year degrees are relevant to learners’ current lives. While the value of four-year degrees is often emphasized, equally high levels of relevance are found among those with two-year degrees, making it a powerful pathway, especially for adult learners.
Completion matters. Regardless of the field of study or degree type learners pursue, those who complete their studies find greater relevance, value and quality in their higher education investments.
Educational relevance varies across degrees and fields of study. The fit between individuals and higher education results in different experiences of relevance. On average, those who complete their higher education with a two-year STEM degree — which included healthcare majors — report more relevance than learners completing their education with four-year degrees in any broadly defined field. Four-year public service (e.g. education and social work) and STEM degrees provide equivalent learner relevance.
Relevance scores have an impact beyond purely educational outcomes–they are related to an individual’s overall sense of well being. Among those who are ‘thriving,’ there is an 18-percentage point difference between those with relevance scores of two compared with those with relevance scores of 10.
Strada Education Network and Gallup today released new findings from the Strada- Gallup Education Survey, revealing only one quarter (26 percent) of U.S. adults with college experience strongly agree that their college coursework is relevant to their work and daily life. The survey results were released at a thought leader event at Gallup Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where higher education, policy and workforce experts weighed in on the findings and their implications.
The report, From College to Life: Relevance and the Value of Higher Education, is the second installment of a three-part series examining learner perspectives on the relevance of postsecondary coursework among a nationally representative sample of 110,481 adults, aged 18 to 65, who are currently employed and have taken at least some college courses. The findings suggest that perceptions of relevance are closely linked to alumni perceptions about the value and quality of their higher education experiences, and relevance is a stronger predictor of those perceptions than conventional measures of either student or college characteristics.
Results also showed that relevance is a better predictor of quality and value than other measures used in college rankings. Alumni ratings of relevance are two and three times more powerful at predicting quality and value than traditional college ranking inputs such as average SAT/ACT math scores, student loan default rates, average cost of attendance, alumni income earnings and graduation rates.
Implications discussed at the May 3 event will serve as the foundation for the final chapter of the series and will highlight specific actions and scalable solutions. Featured contributors and event panelists include:
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Gallup strategically partners with institutions to conduct custom research and implement best practices that create environments in which students and employees thrive.
Our policy agenda focuses on five priority areas: Clear Outcomes, Education-to-Career Coaching, Affordability, Work-Based Learning, and Employer Alignment. Our work focuses on improving both education and employment systems so students realize the economic value of their education and employers have the talent and skills they need to meet the demands of the labor market.
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The list of benefits associated with earning a college degree is extensive and oft-repeated. It includes higher average lifetime earnings, employment security, greater self-esteem, and better health, among many others.
Amid all of this disruption, the number of U.S. workers leaving or changing their jobs sharply increased. Known variously as the Great Resignation, Reshuffle, or Realignment, the trend has been cast in the cultural imagination as a collective desire on the part of the American workforce for more rewarding or meaningful work.
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Higher education’s measurement of student success is in the midst of an evolution. For nearly five decades, success efforts focused on access, then two decades with completion as the horizon for success, and now the focus is extending to student outcomes beyond completion.
Applied connections between education and work are increasingly a part of undergraduate education in the United States.
Two centuries after the first historically Black colleges and universities were founded, the 101 accredited HBCUs in operation today continue to deliver on their legacy of expanding educational opportunity for Black students that leads to successful and fulfilling lives.
As a field, higher education has experienced a continuing evolution in how to measure success. For nearly five decades success efforts were focused on access, followed by the past decade and a half pursuing completion, and the field now has a growing focus on the value of a degree and student outcomes beyond completion.
Strada’s prior research on undergraduate perceptions of the value of their education demonstrates that students value their education most when they receive support to connect their education and career interests.
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The baccalaureate degree remains the surest path to economic mobility, employment stability, and a host of associated social benefits.
Steep declines in undergraduate enrollment during 2020 and 2021 threaten to widen existing equity gaps in college completion and career opportunities.
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