A new report from Complete College America (CCA) is pushing higher education institutions to rethink their student onboarding and advising experiences by encouraging them to help students connect their purpose and career interests to an academic program early on.
The report “Shared Beliefs and Practices for Putting Purpose First in American Higher Education” promotes high-impact practices that institutions can implement such as conducting career and interests assessments, providing labor market data to students, creating academic pathways that enable career exploration and focusing on proactive advising to build students’ momentum to degree completion and career. Such strategies can empower students to make informed choices and “become authentic owners of their own career aspirations,” the report said.
“Purpose First” has always been a part of CCA’s prescriptive set of guidelines for guided pathways, said Dr. Dhanfu E. Elston, vice president of strategy for Guided Pathways and Purpose First at CCA. The new report will provide a “sense of clarity” for institutions around providing students with the information they need to find the intersection of their interests, academic major and career goals.
CCA’s report revolves around three key principles:
I. Higher education as the launching pad toward a meaningful career through empowering students to make informed choices;
II. Career exploration and planning as an early and intentional component of the academic experience;
III. The importance of states, systems and institutions building a ‘culture of purpose’ across all tiers in higher education.
