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A Wall Street Journal article explores the increasing currency of a skill traditionally associated with the humanities. Noting that “mentions of critical thinking in job postings have doubled since 2009” the article goes on to explore the challenge of translating this fundamental academic skill across a professional landscape that defines it in various ways. While…

In a recent Op-Ed New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, cites Gallup research that bolsters the case for the value of individual mentoring and internship experience for college students. According to the survey, graduates who had professors “who cared about them as a person — or had a mentor who encouraged their goals and dreams…

The most recent issue of The Atlantic cites a Chronicle of Higher Education study that places experience outside the classroom at a much higher premium than traditional academic achievement measures such as grades and coursework. In this national survey, when it comes to hiring decisions, employers look first to a graduate’s internship and work experience.…

During and since the Great Recession employers have raised experience requirements and internships increasingly substitute for on-the-job training. Entry-level work requires more thinking and less checklist following than in the past with employers placing greater emphasis on soft skills such as interacting with clients.  Read the Wall Street Journal article here: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/want-an-entry-level-job-youll-need-lots-of-experience-1407267498-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNjEwNDYyWj Thanks to Scott…

Schooled in India, where the best education was rote memorization of technical knowledge, Fareed Zakaria tells in his recent graduation speech at Sarah Lawrence College how he discovered the power and advantage of liberal education in the U.S. He learned how to write, think, express himself and, above all, to self-teach. In an era when…

In a globalized world, “language is the new oil,” claims Hans Fenstermacher, CEO of GALA. It stands to reason that among the liberal arts disciplines, language study, especially translation and localization (a 32 billion dollar industry), is on the rise. The WSJ captures this rise in terms of higher salaries; it’s not clear, however, that…

The study, which focuses on an international MBA abroad program, argues that students become more “flexible, creative and complex thinkers.” Abstract:“[…] Using a culturally diverse sample, we found that “multicultural engagement”–the extent to which students adapted to and learned about new cultures–during a highly international 10-month master of business administration (MBA) program predicted the number…

The London Business School is now doing this, and the idea, the article states, was a response to students overly focused on the bottom line and to complaints by employers who say “recent graduates are trained to solve single problems but often miss the big picture.” But will one course do the job? I’m curious…

Tom Friedman’s NYT interview with Lazlo Bock, Google’s chief of HR, has reignited discussion about educational pathways to promising careers (like working for Google). In Part 1 of the interview, we learned that Google doesn’t care about college degrees; they care about what people know and can actually do. According to Bock, college degrees are…

Excerpt:The myth that studying the humanities doesn’t pay was recently exploded by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Their study, released in January, analyzed Census Bureau data on the education and occupation of about three million U.S. residents. read here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304418404579463840253963188 (requires subscription)