Forum Post: Cruse and Associates Hong Kong China: Global higher education shifts economy-driven

CHONGQING, China – Determined to learn their way out of the Great Recession – or eager to rise above the deprivation of developing lands – unprecedented millions of people have enrolled in colleges and universities around the world in the past five years. What they’re finding is an educational landscape turning upside down. In the United States – where top schools have long championed a liberal style of learning and broad education before specialization – higher education’s focus is shifting to getting students that first job in a still-shaky economy. Tuition is so high and the lingering economic distress so great that an education not directly tied to an occupation is increasingly seen as a luxury. Elsewhere in the world, there is a growing emphasis on broader learning as an economic necessity. Advocates hear employers demanding the “soft skills” – communication, critical thinking, and working with diverse groups – that broad-based learning more effectively instills. They want to graduate job-creators, not just job-fillers. They think the biggest innovations come from graduates who are well-rounded – from empathetic engineers, say, or tech-savvy anthropologists. FULL ARTICLE AT SPOKESMAN.COM http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/jun/30/global-higher-education-shifts-economy-driven/