Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • February 4, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com D efining liberal-arts education can be dif- ficult, but many people can identify the comical stereotypes: A group of young scholars sitting cross- legged on the quad, sincerely nodding as their professor quotes Plato. "Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowl- edge," the professor says rolling his r's and gesticulating like an actor perform- ing a Shakespearean soliloquy. Kidding aside, the role of liberal-arts schools has come under the spotlight in recent years, especially as colleges and universities nationwide facing declin- ing enrollment, and some public skepti- cism has been raised about the value of skills taught at such institutions. Amid this backdrop, some Connecti- cut colleges that have traditionally focused on the humanities are experi- menting with business partnerships, and offering skills-based programs aimed at improving students' job prospects in the technology and manufacturing industries. This month, University of St. Joseph, in collaboration with New Haven app developer DappDevs, will begin a pre- certificate program that offers basic skills training in blockchain technology. A six-week blockchain certification pro- gram is set to debut in March. Meanwhile, Trinity College will soon begin an experimental partnership with tech giant Info- sys, dubbed the Trinity-Infosys Applied Learning Initiative. First on the list is a course in which Trinity faculty and Infosys will jointly provide training to new Infosys employ- ees who are starting out as entry-level business analysts, said So- nia Cardenas, Trinity's vice president for strategic initiatives. The program will incorporate elements of the liberal arts along with tech training. "What's unique about it is thinking about very explicitly the ways that (students) can translate their liberal- arts skills and their liberal-arts experi- ence into this new domain," Cardenas said. "We really are kind of approach- ing this with an experiment mindset of, 'how do we think creatively about the future, the relevance of the liberal arts, the value of the liberal arts — which we're confident about?" To be clear, Cardenas and other liberals-arts school administrators still strongly defend the value of a hu- manities education, which remains the bread and butter of their institutions. However, they also believe adding some skill-specific courses will elevate their graduates above peers, who may have technical know-how but lack communication, logical-thinking and other skills that are in high demand. Additionally, Cardenas and Uni- versity of St. Joseph President Rhona Free point out their schools have long offered some career-track education programs, like nursing or pharmacy. Small private liberal-arts colleges seeking to supplement instruction in the humanities with courses that teach specific job skills is a nationwide trend, experts say. And for many such institu- tions, declining to participate in this evolution could lead to their demise over the next 20 years, said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Perception problems plaguing liberal-arts schools are in part rooted in shifting expectations of what higher- education institutions should provide, Carnevale said. In the late 1970s about 70 percent of jobs required a high school diploma or less. But now that about 60 percent of jobs require at least some post-secondary education, college is a necessity for job-seekers. This has increased demand for college pro- grams teaching explicit job skills in fields that are hiring, or that link students to spe- cific employment opportunities. "College sud- denly became the nation's work- force-preparation system," Carnevale said. "Underneath all of it, every- body's paying more attention to careers." Added to that, higher-ed enrollment is trending downward. Overall, post- secondary enrollment decreased 1.3 percent in 2018's spring semester from a year earlier, according to a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Re- search Center. That marks the seventh consecutive year of shrinking student bodies, trade publication Inside Higher Ed said. In Connecticut, enrollment shrank by 0.21 percent between the fall of 2016 and fall of 2017, National Center for Education Statistics data show. The slumping admissions trend is to be expected, Carnevale said. Colleges and universities typically see higher enrollment during economic reces- sions, but as the economy improves enrollment suffers. Liberal arts still has value Cardenas said questions about the utility of a liberal-arts degree are play- ing a role in Trinity's experimental partnership with Infosys. "We're all part of the world," Carde- nas said. "We're aware of trends around us, and we all kind of soak that in and are responding to that in some way." But, she reasoned, liberal-arts stu- dents learn broadly applicable commu- nication and leadership skills that are more difficult to acquire than technol- ogy know-how. Job-seekers with liberal- arts backgrounds complemented with tech skills could turn out to be more sought after than those without any competence in the humanities, she said. At the University of St. Joseph, Free predicts blockchain-technology train- ing will weave into the fabric of some humanities-based professions. Art his- tory majors who go into the museum field, for example, could use blockchain to create a database of works and arti- facts in order to verify authenticity. But Free predicts University of St. Joseph could see a shifting focus Beyond the Humanities To assert relevance, liberal-arts colleges lean into skills training, business partnerships Anthony Carnevale, Director, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University University of St. Joseph President Rhona Free said adding a blockchain program helps the school tap into a growing sector. Sonia Cardenas, Trinity College's vice president for strategic initiatives, said her school's new partnership with tech giant Infosys aims to help students and others with liberal-arts backgrounds leverage their skills for tech-sector jobs. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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