Today’s job market continues to move in new and, sometimes unexpected, directions. And if you teach humanities and social sciences, you might find yourself grappling with a complex challenge these days: How do you equip students with the skills employers want without sacrificing what makes a liberal arts education special?
The lasting value of humanities and social sciences education
Despite a changing academic landscape, the value of a liberal arts education remains strong. This is especially true when aligned with career readiness. Our new white paper, “Transforming Humanities and Socials Sciences Education for Student Career Readiness,” explores how higher ed faculty in these areas can enhance their relevance and prepare their students for workforce. explores how higher ed faculty in these areas can enhance their relevance and prepare their students for the workforce.
A persistent myth suggests that humanities and social sciences degrees lack practical value. Yet, our white paper reveals a different story. While STEM graduates may earn higher starting salaries, the pay gap narrows over time.
While today’s employers prioritize technical skills, it’s also essential for candidates to gain soft skills to navigate the workforce, such as problem-solving, critical thinking and adaptability, all cultivated in liberal arts programs. These skills are considered essential to career success.
Three transferable career-readiness skills
To bridge this gap, you can focus on developing three key career-readiness skills in your learners:
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Data Literacy
Defined by Harvard Business School as the “…ability to read, understand, and utilize data,” data literacy is no longer optional in today’s workforce. In fact, 82% of business decision makers expect all their employees to have at least basic data literacy, You may choose to integrate digital humanities projects that teach students to:
- Access and evaluate data: Encourage critical questions about data sources, limitations and ethical considerations.
- Manage data: Help students learn how to structure and visualize data effectively.
- Analyze data: Use tools like data mining and visualization software to interpret and present findings.
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Critical Thinking
Critical thinking skills have long been at the heart of humanities and social sciences learning. To make these skills more workplace-relevant, you can:
- Teach source evaluation: Encourage students to question the credibility, bias and context of digital sources.
- Use primary sources: These materials often require students to synthesize information, identify patterns, and draw conclusions, all of which mirror real-world problem-solving.
- Promote student-led projects: Developing their own digital projects requires students to define research questions, evaluate sources and build cohesive narratives.
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Information Literacy
Today’s students are learning to navigate a world where a steady and often overwhelming flow of content has become the new norm. To thrive in fast-paced, collaborative workplaces, they need to be able to identify factual, relevant information. We suggest you try these methods to foster this skill in your students:
- Collaborate with your librarian(s): Build bridges within your institution to integrate real-world research practices.
- Encourage non-digital research: Teach students to seek information from people, not just online databases.
- Design collaborative projects: These initiatives often require skills such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving. These are directly transferable to the workplace.
By aligning humanities and social sciences education with workforce demands, you can ensure your students not only survive but thrive in their future careers.