'Real Learning' Is Goal of AAC&U's 'Quality Imperative'

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is sharing data and analysis from its recent survey of employers, asking them what they want in their college grads. Along with the survey, AAC&U has released a statement, The Quality Imperative. In the USA Today story there is a hint, at the end, of the tension pervading concerns about what learning outcomes should be sought after by federal policy. The AAC&U is concerned about "programs that provide narrow training or short-term credentials ," which a spokesperson for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) says that students often come to school asking "for just the beef" because it relates to a new job.

We have the following links for SCUPers:

• USA Today coverage;
• The AAC&U Press Release;
• The recent survey data, Raising the Bar: Employers' Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn (PDF); and
• The AAC&U's formal statement, The Quality Imperative (PDF).

From the latter:

The quality of individuals’ actual learning is the most important resource we have as a society. To build a global future, the United States must erase the educational dividing lines that were designed long ago for a far more parochial and socially stratified world.

It is not just wrong but risky to provide a 360-degree education to some Americans and a much more blinkered form of training to others. A great nation needs and deserves more.

In today’s far more competitive global environment, we must work together toward standards that, once and for all, make excellence truly inclusive, not just in the schools, but in postsecondary education as well. Quality must drive our commitment to college completion, both for the economy and for our future as a great democracy.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA