Page 34 - Global Focus, Issue 2, 2018

EFMD Global Focus_Iss.2 Vol.12
www.globalfocusmagazine.com

Needs of a new workforce Professional and industry bodies, employee
Employer-employee loyalty is not what it once and employer groups, as well as large corporations
was. The millennial employees – keen to explore demand (or even offer their own) bespoke
their talents and broaden their horizons – are programmes addressing these changing
seemingly reluctant to commit to a single employer educational needs. And private education providers
beyond a few years. They want multiple careers and consultants jumped into this void. Both
throughout their working lives. Meanwhile, employees and employers want programmes
employers – still reeling from the global financial that signal verified, educational attainment.
crisis of 2008 – prefer a more “casualised” work This is where universities stand to gain much.
force to scale their employment needs to economic A reputable tertiary education institution
conditions. significantly reduces information asymmetry in
While those two ambitions may seem to staff recruitment. Universities are quality accredited
complement each other, it is nevertheless a clash of to determine what level of depth in learning needs
generations that has the potential to undermine the to be achieved before a degree can be meaningfully
stability of workforce roles. And it has implications awarded. That quality assurance extends to the
for employee training and graduate recruitment accreditation of stackable learning modules
skill sets. by awarding a badge, a certificate or a (micro)
In response, employees want to regularly update credential.
their professional knowledge and skills either
for career advancement or for career change. Mosaic programmes – realising the
Employers want ready-to-deploy work skills and comprehensive university
they want to regularly upskill their staff to better From shared roots in medieval times and the
adapt to changing roles, tasks and technology. Renaissance, our university disciplines have over the
The immediate benefit from supporting staff last century or so increasingly separated through
to pursue lengthy (part-time) masters degree specialisation – in research as much as in their
programmes is considered increasingly limited in teaching programmes. That’s about to change.
achieving those goals. At worst, those programmes The identification of grand challenges and
encourage staff to seek new opportunities, change wicked problems have forced university research
careers and leave. programmes to reconsider the wisdom of pursuing
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