The crystallized situation at higher education institutions
Higher education is not always open to changes, and universities and colleges have followed rigid schemes for centuries. However, slight changes have been made in this crystallised panorama over the past few years. The main change trigger was the Covid-19 pandemics which constrained most universities and colleges to switch to a digitalised platform. However, digital devices and platforms in higher education are only a small part of the whole concept of change: the main issue is that institutions deliver strongly academic content. At the same time, the practical side and current industry needs are left aside.
Throughout the tertiary education sector, the accreditation of courses is often complicated for the high prestige that colleges and universities usually carry on since their foundation. To keep the quality and the value of certification high, these educational institutions have to face challenges that go from adaptation to a framework and procedure processing. These procedures have the function of protecting the accreditation might even help fill in their purpose, but they slow down the process of keeping up with the industry.
These procedures take a lot of time, and the industry has already moved on by the time these degree programs are released. So, even if fully accredited and working, these degrees still result unfunctional for the labour market. What is more, even if time has gone on, some higher education institutions still tend to deliver academic-oriented programme courses only. And, if not only that, the amount of the academic content is also always more significant in part.
That is another disturbing factor since often the graduates have no or near-to-zero job experience and thus find it hard to get along. Besides, in this present-day digitalisation era, there are still too many old-fashioned study courses that do not adapt to the requirements of a real job. So, universities and colleges are usually too slow in keeping up with the industry news, especially in the current period.
A mixture of theoretical academic knowledge and practical skills
So, what has to be encouraged is the new model of delivering higher education based on a mixture of theoretical academic knowledge and practical skills in the industry. The collaborations between enterprises and colleges, and universities fill all these lacks in time shift and gaps between educational theory and the applicable set of skills.
The model in which the delivery of tertiary education is based on a mix of theory and the practice or, the academy and the labour market, adapt only the most substantial elements. ACS – ASOMI College of Sciences represents this model of a combination of university and college degrees with the needs and requirements of the labour market. The programme courses at ACS College are tailored to follow market trends. Our courses follow market niches that are hard to find elsewhere in institutions where courses on generic topics are often being delivered. We at ACS provide high-quality education worldwide with fully online or blended courses and has students from all over the world. Besides, ACS College is a fully accredited college that supports its students’ career development. To reach this enterprise, we have employed the highest qualified professors, lecturers and specialists belonging to the niche that are world-famous experts in their area.
The enterprise-higher education collaborations represent a win-win situation by growing the opportunities for all the involved parties:
Students, graduates, and future workers: Student satisfaction is the focus of every higher education institution. Therefore, students will be motivated when studying something they know they can deploy practically in their careers. The course type, age, and experience of students do not matter – LMA or MBA students and the bachelor’s first-year students are all happy to learn also practical sides of the study course they opted for. Graduates will thus find a job more quickly, and future workers are more qualified for their assignments from early on.
Enterprises: they have a fresh flow and a wide range of new talents. Besides, collaborations with higher education institutions help firms raise brand awareness and increment productivity in terms of a new workforce with innovative ideas. Joint research and other collaboration projects with higher education institutions also play an essential role in benefitting from that situation.
Higher education institutions: since universities and colleges are nothing more than service providers, the students are their clients. Therefore, as for every service provider, customer feedback is crucial, and therefore higher education institutions benefit from student success. Moreover, collaborations between companies and higher education institutions often offer engaging international experience and economic benefits.
The excellent combination.
Of course, learning can also be made by basing it on a customised set of skills. Indeed, their advantages include the meeting of corporate needs, inexpensive and the rapidity of the deployment of custom based skills learning. But this kind of learning has its opposing sides as limited career progression, as the accreditation is not recognised and the lack of tutoring.
A traditional college or university qualification has accredited courses, and thus the career progression is more likely to happen; moreover, mentoring is a long-term commitment and facility often offered by universities and colleges. However, the traditional colleges and universities are often too expensive inflexible to the labour market since they usually do not meet the corporate needs.
But the higher education institutions that unite the two extremes, such as ACS – ASOMI College of Sciences, take up the positive sides of both: the programmes delivered in this kind of higher education institutions are market-oriented and fully accredited at the same time. They incorporate key talent in their academic board and tutor their students and graduates. Moreover, they often offer tuition programs and the possibility to pay in instalments.
