College and Business

How can colleges and universities help to ensure that their graduates are employable once their studies are complete? One way, says Peter Stokes, author of the Harvard Education Press title Higher Education and Employability, is to collaborate more effectively with the businesses that will be offering employment. Unfortunately, according to Stokes, the cocurricular experience is often treated by colleges as an add-on or an afterthought. This thinking really needs to be changed for the success of college graduates in the workforce.

"One of the issues is not just expanding the repertoire of possibilities for collaboration," says Stokes, "but really changing the orientation around collaboration."

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Stokes examines new models for integrating study and work in the context of 21st-century learning.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.