Adapting to New Demands on Skill Sets

Highlights from this Segment

It is incumbent on schools to make sure students are ready for a very competitive marketplace in order to secure employment. Most schools have similar academic learning goals, which continue to be critically important. However, the common learning goals are no longer sufficient. At Lubin, there are two sets of learning goals that are in addition to those required by most schools: technical skills and effectiveness skills. Technical skills are important since many entry-level jobs now require familiarity with various technologies and software.

Lubin offers a Microsoft certification exam in advanced Excel for accounting and finance students; was the first school to integrate Bloomberg Terminal training into finance majors’ coursework; and has management students take a certification exam in project management. Effectiveness skills, or what some refer to as social intelligence or EQ, are skills that are valuable to a student’s long-term career. Lubin addresses these through its Pace Path program as well as through the Lubin Professional Experience, which teaches students how to deal with peoples’ anger, how to disagree with authority, and how to build trust.