The skills gap between graduates and employers is growing. This piece explores why the most powerful solution may be what happens inside the classroom.
69% of employers say recent graduates need a great deal or moderate amount of additional training to be successful in their roles, according to an employer report published by Gallup and Lumina Foundation.
At the same time, colleges and universities are struggling to communicate the value of a degree to the public. While confidence in colleges and universities is rising, the share of Americans who believe a degree is “very important” has dropped to historic lows.
With college graduates facing an increasingly challenging job market, an important factor in the perception of value will be students’ career readiness.
Billions of dollars in investment, sweeping federal strategy, and a growing coalition of business and nonprofits are all looking to the college classroom to solve the perceived skills gap between graduates and the roles employers are looking to fill.
Understanding the Skills Gap
There’s a wide disconnect in how new graduates and employers perceive career readiness.
A 2024 Student Survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) revealed a significant gap between how new graduates and employers perceive graduates’ proficiency in key workplace competencies, including communication, critical thinking, and leadership. Communication and critical thinking, for example, saw a gap of approximately 25 percentage points, with graduates rating themselves far more proficient in these competencies than the employers recruiting them.
Professionalism showed a deeper divide: Nearly 80% of graduates rated themselves proficient, compared to just 50% of employers.
Collectively, these gaps reveal an opportunity to better align what students are learning with what they will need for their careers ahead.
Bridging the Skills Gap for Future Careers
Extending beyond the walls of colleges and universities, workforce readiness has become a shared national priority. Businesses, federal and state governments, and nonprofit organizations have all made significant investments in preparing career ready graduates. It’s become deeply understood that no single sector can support this effort on its own, and a multifaceted approach is necessary.
Below are just a few examples of how each sector is addressing the workforce readiness gap.
U.S. Government
In August of 2025, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Education released a joint workforce strategy, highlighting the need for a collective approach to preparing workforce-ready graduates. While this is the most recent example, there have been dozens of examples of governmental support for workforce-readiness programs for colleges and universities, including Workforce Pell, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and other workforce readiness grant opportunities.
Private Business
Investment in workforce-ready graduates continues to be a key initiative for corporate business as well. Bank of America, for example, has invested nearly $40 million in workforce development initiatives in 2025. To close skill gaps across healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, BofA has partnered with more than 100 universities and community colleges and over 600 nonprofit organizations.
Nonprofit Organizations
The nonprofit sector continues to drive workforce readiness by funding research, driving policy, and building the infrastructure to connect education to employment. Lumina Foundation, a private foundation committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school for all, launched FutureReady States in July 2025—a national initiative to align education and workforce systems to scale credentials of value.
Lumina is not alone. Nonprofits like Strada, Jobs for the Future, and the Business-Higher Education Forum are part of a growing movement channeling resources into education that translates into positive career outcomes for graduates.
Closing the Gap Starts in the Classroom
As evidenced by the scale of investment in workforce readiness, the skills gap is real and costly. Solving it requires a multifaceted approach, and institutions of higher education are at the center of the solution.
An essential part of meeting the needs of today’s students begins with evidence-based teaching practices that foster engagement, belonging, and real-world application. ACUE’s Certification in Effective Teaching equips faculty with the foundational competencies every educator should master to create engaging, inclusive, and career-relevant learning experiences. By strengthening these core teaching practices, faculty are better prepared to integrate workforce readiness into the classroom in meaningful and lasting ways.
From this foundation, faculty can continue to grow through ACUE Commons, a vibrant community of practice designed to extend learning beyond formal certification. Through Quick Studies, events, and peer engagement, faculty deepen their expertise in workforce readiness through a dynamic range of ready-to-implement approaches, including:
- Embedding career guidance into courses
- Connecting course goals to transferable skills
- Designing authentic tasks and assessments
- Preparing students for experiential learning
- Developing teamwork as a teachable skill
Taken together, these approaches are a commitment to treating workforce readiness as a natural outcome of excellent teaching. In addition to supporting workforce readiness, these approaches can augment other student services efforts on campus.
Learning That Goes Beyond the Classroom
The value of education was never really about degrees or credentials. It’s about whether students leave prepared to contribute, adapt, and grow in a world that is constantly evolving. Businesses are investing. Governments are legislating. Nonprofits are building infrastructure. The opportunity for institutions of higher education is to meet the moment and lead.
Explore the Preparing Workforce-Ready Student Endorsement in ACUE Commons to support meaningful learning and academic excellence in the classroom.
