Strada collaborates with students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
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We prioritize policies, practices, and programs that help ensure postsecondary education provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We advance our mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, and strategic initiatives.
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The 2017 College Student Survey, a new nationally representative survey of current students examining their perceptions about preparation for the workforce and the career-related support they receive from their institutions. Representing the views of more than 32,000 students at 43 randomly selected four-year institutions, the survey reveals a crisis of confidence among most students regarding their readiness to launch careers.
Student confidence in their workforce preparation differs across majors.
Nontraditional students feel more prepared than traditional students.
Students who receive career-specific support feel most prepared for the workforce.
Nearly four in 10 students have never visited their school’s career services office of used online career resources, including more than one-third of seniors.
Career services are particularly helpful for underrepresented and underserved student populations.
Students receive helpful advice about courses and programs from academic advisers, but less so about careers and postgraduate options.
Universities can push students to seek out conversations with faculty members about career options. In doing so, universities open a dialogue between faculty and students about the relationship between academic studies and future careers — one that stands to benefit all parties.
“Higher education’s promise of social mobility hinges on students graduating with confidence, purpose and the skills needed to land their first job,” said Bill Hansen, president and CEO of Strada Education NetworkSM and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education. “Students are telling us they feel underprepared to enter the workforce while employers bemoan the skills of recent graduates. That signals demand for new career advising and work-relevant learning models that support more successful transitions from education to employment.”
Importantly, the findings also point to solutions, revealing that students who have these three career-focused experiences at their institution are significantly more confident about their preparation for the workforce:
Additional survey insights include:
“Students aren’t prepared for work – and they know it,” said Brandon Busteed, Executive Director, Education & Workforce Development at Gallup. “The fact that 88% of freshmen say, ‘getting a good job’ is the reason they go to college, yet only a third strongly agree they are getting the skills and knowledge they need to succeed is a mandate to improve how institutions approach everything from their academic curriculum to advising.”
When it comes to education after high school, Americans know what they value and why. At Strada Education Network, we are listening to what they have to say and leveraging their insights about experiences and outcomes to forge more purposeful pathways between education and careers.
Gallup strategically partners with institutions to conduct custom research and implement best practices that create environments in which students and employees thrive.
Strada’s newest report, Quality Coaching, looks at students’ experiences across three elements of quality coaching and we examine the experiences of recent graduates. The report also offers insights to leaders, practitioners, and others seeking to improve students’ career outcomes.
Strada’s newest report, Building Better Internships, looks at the latest findings from the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI), a survey developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.
The State Opportunity Index was developed to help states build a stronger connection between education after high school and equitable pathways to opportunity so students realize the full value of their education and employers have the workforce they need to fill high-demand jobs.
New research highlights what states and institutions can do to help more graduates secure college-level jobs.
To better understand the value community colleges provide to individuals and communities, we need to acknowledge the range of needs they serve.
A wide range of experiences prepare students for success beyond the completion of their college degree. The evidence for the value of interning on students' future careers is strong.
In an era of student enrollment declines, tight labor markets, rising college costs, and a growing lack of confidence in the value of a postsecondary education, community colleges and employers have ample reasons to partner together.
Partnerships between community colleges and employers have the opportunity to address local and regional economic needs through a range of tools, including supporting student success through resources and services, integrating work-based learning, and building career pathways.
At a time of growing societal uncertainty about the value of higher education and declining enrollment, the views of alumni turn out to be particularly insightful. This group can provide especially valuable feedback about how their education experiences have enriched their lives, which can help us ensure that today’s students maximize all the benefits that college offers.
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.
New Study from Strada Education Network Reveals a Silver Lining at a Challenging Time
Over the past 80 years, our nation has made great strides in improving access to college, and then ensuring that many more students could complete a college degree.
Spring 2022 enrollment numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse reveal a fifth straight semester of enrollment declines, with more than 1 million fewer students enrolled compared to spring 2020