Higher skills: How can higher education meet the ever-evolving needs of the labor market?

The goal of the conference is to facilitate dialogue between policymakers, practitioners, and researchers around the changing nature of skill demand in the U.S. workforce and how postsecondary institutions can better respond to these changes. The conference is made possible through funding from the National Science Foundation.

8:30-9:00 a.m.
Continental breakfast and opening remarks
 
9:00-10:30 a.m.
Panel 1. Looking back: Do postsecondary institutions respond to changes in the labor market?

Celeste Carruthers (University of Tennessee), Riley Acton (Miami University), Andrew Simon (University of Chicago), and Russell Weinstein (University of Illinois) will share new research that demonstrates just how well postsecondary institutions respond to changes in the needs of the U.S. workforce. This session will include short presentations of research, discussion with panelists, and a larger group Q&A.
 
10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Panel 2. How are policy-makers and practitioners using labor market information?

John Austin (University of Michigan), Andrew Kelly (University of North Carolina System Office), Jennifer Lenahan (Rutgers University), and Scott Powell (State of Michigan Chief Data Officer) will discuss how labor market information and other signals of skill demand are currently used to inform postsecondary policy, program offerings, curriculum changes, and workforce planning. 
 
12:15-1:15 p.m.
Lunch and networking
 
1:15 - 2:30 p.m.
Panel 3. Looking forward: New opportunities for measuring skills and workforce needs

Peter Blair (Harvard University), Sarah Bana (Chapman University), and Layla O'Kane (Lightcast) will present new research exploring innovative ways of measuring worker skills, workforce needs, and the alignment between the two. This session will include short presentations of research, discussion with panelists, and a larger group Q&A.
 
2:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Closing discussion and remarks

• Education Policy Speaker Series
• postsecondary education
• education policy