Educational Policies for Integrating College Competencies and Workforce Needs: Cases from Brazil, Mongolia, Ukraine, and the United States. Issue Brief

In the past decade, the role of higher education in workforce development has emerged as a key issue around the world. Leading authorities inside and outside of government have begun questioning whether colleges and universities are preparing graduates with the competencies and skills necessary to compete in a dynamic global economy. As part of a series produced for the Global Policy Fellows Program, an initiative of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, this paper analyzes how four countries--Brazil, Mongolia, Ukraine, and the United States--are meeting the dynamic challenge of workforce development within a global economic, political, and social context. A number of issues should be considered in examining the role of higher education institutions in workforce development. This paper highlights how the four profiled countries are addressing three facets of the challenge: (1) Basic skills development; (2) Internships; and (3) Stakeholders. (Contains 4 figures and 94 endnotes.)