Alternative post-secondary education, what are we talking about?

Alternative post-secondary education, what are we talking about?

(by Andrea Pisaniello) To understand what alternative post-secondary education is and its importance today, it is necessary to start from some gaps in traditional university education, gaps both in the study programs and in the ways in which learning activities are provided.

For entire generations, the university degree has been the key to entry into the world of work. In past years, university education was sufficient to find a stable job, with an adequate remuneration for the studies undertaken and that made people economically and socially independent. Political, economic, social and technological changes are totally changing the effectiveness of traditional university education.

According to several analyzes on the development of the world of work, by

2055 almost half will be played by a machine. Given this panorama, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2022 technological advances will create 133 million new jobs.

This suggests that, as this technological revolution advances, men and machines will work together, but for this joint work scenario to take place, it is necessary to change the way we work and, therefore, must change the skills we need to learn. and develop.

The demand for job profiles with technological and digital skills, as well as the demand for people with transversal skills, is increasing. The world of work requires professionals with critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. In this panorama of technological revolution, companies will increasingly seek new talents and highly skilled workers. Students will need not only traditional training, but always updated training that constantly improves the skills and competences of the learners.

As we will see, the development of these skills and competences are often not found in university programs, with more frequent we find learning programs in step with the times in alternative post-secondary training programs.

If today and in the future the university degree with traditional programs will not be sufficient to remain competitive in the world of work, the trend will be to convert ourselves into permanent students, on the paradigm of lifelong learning. In order to fill the skill gap, that is the spread between the skills required by companies and the skills acquired by students, universities will have to align learning programs and methodologies with the demands and needs of the world of work, in order to provide students with the right skills to be successful in the workplace.

We have underlined how the economic, technological and social changes of recent years have profoundly changed the reality of university students, who today must prepare themselves adequately to face a constantly changing, complex and uncertain working world. These changes have led to the updating of skills as a distinctive element of our century. In this scenario, it will not only be necessary for young people to improve their skills and competences, to face the challenges that the working world and society will offer students will have to constantly reinvent their skills, to help them alternative post-secondary education will play a key role .

A university degree often only states that a certain number of credits have been completed and approved, making the student a university certificate holder; however, studying a certain number of hours in the classroom and many more alone to pass an exam or finish a project does not guarantee that you have acquired the skills necessary to excel in a given profession.

In front of a company's recruiters, the process of acquiring skills, abilities and knowledge is different from the certificates or diplomas that attest to it.

To solve this problem, a transformation in university education is required, the university curriculum needs to be rethought, not as a list of subjects representing studies in certain fields of knowledge, but as teaching periods that provide adequate development of competences, skills and well-defined knowledge.

Abilities to remain competitive in any profession change too quickly for higher education to happen only once in a lifetime.

But let's see in detail, what is meant by alternative post-secondary education? It is a training that refers to those skills, abilities and learning outcomes that derive from activities not related to a university degree. They are aligned with the specific and timely needs of the working world.

The use of this type of training programs has recently increased exponentially; partly in response to the current economic, political and social context, as described above. This alternative training model is becoming increasingly popular as it offers people a new, more accessible, affordable and effective learning model for developing knowledge and skills to spend on the job market.

The universe of this training model is complex and varied. Although much research has been conducted on this topic, there is as yet no universal classification of the types and patterns of alternative post-secondary education. However, I propose a version of the classification made by J. Brown and M. Kurzweil (2017). (1)

  1. Training courses for work and certification

Certification programs are generally completed in less than two years and are offered by technical vocational education institutions, seminary schools, private institutions. Most of the people who participate in these programs don't have a university degree and try to get certified in sectors

such as: electronics, mechanics, health sciences and cosmetology.

The edX training platform has created several professional certification programs with the aim of offering online courses in areas where the demand is greatest and they have been designed with the aim of developing or improving the skills of specific careers. Created by industry leaders, professional certification programs seek to develop the skills most in demand on the job market.

  1. On the job training

This type of training refers to corporate training programs, training and professional practices that companies offer for the development of their employees. Corporate training and workforce development programs generally lead to recognized certification in the area of ​​expertise. In 2016, Coursera (popular e-learning platform) launched Coursera for Business, a program in which companies can purchase specific courses to be followed by their employees.

  1. Short skills-based courses

When we talk about short courses based on skills in most cases we talk about bootcamps. Bootcamps are rapid and intensive learning programs that teach high demand skills such as web development, programming, science and data analysis, through a fully immersive experience, students learn a wide range of skills in a short time of time (from 10 weeks to 6 months).

Typically, bootcamp programs are set to the skills required in the business world, giving students real experience building projects and applications. This allows them to obtain, in a short time, the necessary skills to advance

professionally and improve those skills not studied during university studies. In addition, these types of courses are distinguished by having solid job placement programs, usually thanks to direct collaborations with companies.

  1. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

The Massive Open Online Courses are online training courses open to anyone and accessible anywhere in the world, delivered on e-learning platforms such as EdX, Coursera, Udemy and others.

Through MOOCs it is possible to access high quality content often developed by elite universities, the courses are characterized by being accessible to everyone and convenient.

  1. Competence-based educational programs

In competence-based educational programs students build their knowledge actively through experience-based learning situations. The skills and abilities are developed in contexts in which learners are actively involved, facing real situations, in completing certain projects, in solving problems.

Learning does not have to be the exclusive prerogative of universities. People continue to learn through their personal and professional experiences, in and out of an educational, formal and informal context.

The new economic, political and social changes of the last decade have made the need for constant training to adapt to these changes evident and essential. This is why the offer of new alternative pathways to traditional learning programs has increased considerably in recent years and is expected to continue to grow. Its proliferation will help build a lifelong learning culture that enables people to access more inclusive and flexible alternative training and learning pathways.

Those educational institutions that will have the capacity to adapt to this new normal will be those that will stand out in the face of the upcoming transformations in the world of education. The growing supply of alternative training courses should not be seen as a threat by universities, on the contrary, these transformations should contribute to the evolution of traditional university programs. Traditional degrees and alternative post-secondary training courses can and must coexist, reinforcing learning opportunities for the society of the future.

Andrea Pisaniello, Instructional designer / E-learning specialist, AIDR Digital Education Observatory

Alternative post-secondary education, what are we talking about?