signals in higher ed

The narrative around early-career work has become increasingly pessimistic, with headlines pointing to a shrinking pool of entry-level roles, fewer internship opportunities, and AI accelerating both trends. But beneath that narrative, a different tension is emerging—one that’s less about the disappearance of opportunity and more about how it’s being reshaped. Students are using AI to move faster, apply more broadly, and present themselves more effectively, while employers are struggling to distinguish between candidates in a sea of highly polished, AI-assisted applications. For higher education, this creates a new kind of pressure: not just preparing students for the workforce, but helping them navigate a hiring landscape where the traditional signals of readiness are starting to break down.

So what’s really happening to entry-level work right now—and are internships actually disappearing, or just starting to look very different?

That’s the question at the heart of the latest episode of Signals in Higher Ed. Host Darin Francis sits down with Jillian Low, Chief Strategy Officer at Virtual Internships, to unpack new research on how AI is shaping internship experiences in real time. Drawing on interviews and survey data from global employers and interns, the conversation explores how AI is influencing skill development, hiring signals, and the future of early-career pathways.

What you’ll learn…

• Why AI isn’t replacing internships—but is changing what separates a strong intern from an average one.
• How employers expect interns to use AI—and what that means in practice.
• What’s breaking in the hiring process—and why resumes alone are no longer enough to stand out.

Jillian Low serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Virtual Internships, where she leads global strategy, learning innovation, and partnerships to scale work-based learning across universities, employers, and governments. She focuses on workforce development and instructional design, helping connect education to employment at scale—supporting over 12,000 learners in accessing internships with 20,000+ companies worldwide. With a background spanning international workforce programs and edtech leadership, she now explores how AI, experiential learning, and skills frameworks can better prepare learners for the modern workforce.

Teacher shortages aren’t exactly a new headline—but lately, they’ve started to feel a lot more urgent. In some places, schools have gone years without enough fully trained teachers in the classroom, exposing real flaws in how we prepare and retain educators. Add in the rising cost of becoming a teacher and training models that haven’t kept pace with the realities of the job, and it’s no surprise that many people who want to make an impact aren’t willing to wait years just to feel effective.

Which brings us to a simple but important question: what’s actually going wrong in the teacher pipeline—and how do we fix it in a way that makes sense today?

Welcome to Signals in Higher Ed. In the latest episode, host Darin Francis sits down with Kimberly Eckert from Western Governors University’s Craft Education System, where she focuses on instructional innovation and apprenticeship design. Together, they take a closer look at what’s broken in the teacher pipeline—and what comes next. The conversation spans early exposure to teaching, apprenticeship pathways, and the role of technology and data in building a more responsive, workforce-aligned system.

Top insights from the talk…

• Traditional teacher preparation programs often delay real classroom experience until it’s too late—reducing engagement and increasing attrition.
• Apprenticeship-based models can dramatically improve access, affordability, and job-readiness by embedding learning directly into paid work.
• Technology should act as a connective tissue—linking data, stakeholders, and real-time insights—not just as a compliance tool.

Kimberly Eckert is a nationally recognized education leader with nearly two decades of classroom and leadership experience, currently serving as Head of Instructional Innovation and Apprenticeship Design at Craft Education System at Western Governors University. She has led major teacher preparation and workforce initiatives, including serving as the inaugural Dean of Oxford Teachers College at Reach University and founding Educators Rising Louisiana to expand and diversify the teacher pipeline. A former Louisiana Teacher of the Year, Global Teacher Prize Ambassador, and NEA Social Justice Advocate, her work focuses on apprenticeship-based pathways, educator development, and building more accessible, job-embedded models of teacher training.

Across the U.S., the conversation about the value of a college degree is increasingly tied to one central question: Does higher education actually prepare students for the workforce? As artificial intelligence reshapes how work gets done and employers rethink the skills they need, universities are under growing pressure to ensure graduates leave not just with knowledge, but with practical experience. Research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) consistently shows that students who complete internships or other work-based learning experiences receive significantly more job offers and higher starting salaries than those who do not. That reality has pushed experiential learning and employer partnerships to the center of higher education strategy.

But if work-based learning is so critical to career readiness, how can colleges and employers work together to scale these opportunities for far more students?

That’s the question at the heart of this episode of Signals in Higher Ed. In the latest episode, host Darin Francis sits down with Kristen Fox, CEO of the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), to explore how institutions and employers can collaborate more effectively to build a future-ready workforce. Their conversation examines the evolving skills landscape in the age of AI, the structural barriers preventing work-based learning from scaling, and the models emerging to connect students, employers, and universities more meaningfully.

What you’ll learn…

• Why employer demand is the missing piece in scaling internships and experiential learning—not just university supply.

• How AI is reshaping expectations for entry-level talent, making early workplace exposure and real-world experience more important than ever.
• How new partnership models are expanding work-integrated learning, from project-based collaborations to regional employer–university networks that go beyond traditional internships.

Kristen Fox is the CEO of the Business-Higher Education Forum, where she leads a national coalition of corporate and university leaders working to align higher education with workforce needs and expand work-integrated learning opportunities. With more than 20 years of experience in education innovation, digital learning, and workforce development, she has held leadership roles at Tyton Partners and Eduventures, advising universities, edtech companies, and nonprofits on strategy, market growth, and the future of learning and work. At Northeastern University, she helped launch major experiential learning initiatives—including the Experiential Network—designed to scale career-connected education and improve student career mobility.

Higher education is under pressure. Over the past few years, public confidence in the value of a four-year degree has declined significantly, with fewer Americans expressing a strong belief that traditional higher education delivers a worthwhile return on investment. At the same time, employers consistently report that graduates lack job-ready skills—particularly the “durable skills” needed to thrive in professional environments. As industries search for diverse, work-ready talent, and students question the ROI of traditional college pathways, new models are emerging to bridge the gap.

What if employers didn’t just recruit graduates, but co-created their education from the start? And could an apprenticeship-driven, employer-funded model offer a viable blueprint for the future of higher ed?

Those are the questions at the heart of this episode of Signals in Higher Ed. Host Darin Francis and guest host Ron Stefanski sit down with Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, President of Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, to explore employer-sponsored apprenticeships in design. The conversation examines how a revived HBCU in Detroit is aligning curriculum directly with corporate partners, transforming students into “future professionals,” and redefining what experiential learning can look like at scale.

What you’ll learn…

• How co-creating curriculum with brands turns education into a multi-week or multi-year job interview.

• Why traditional design education has failed to build a sustainable, diverse talent pipeline.

• How a performance-based, employer-funded model delivers measurable hiring results.

Dr. D’Wayne Edwards is a pioneering footwear designer and executive whose 30+ year career includes serving as Design Director for Brand Jordan at Nike, where he became the youngest design director in company history and one of only six designers to create an original Air Jordan model. He holds more than 50 design patents, has designed over 500 footwear styles across multiple categories, generating more than $1.5 billion in global sales, and has earned international recognition, including the Red Dot Award and Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. As founder of PENSOLE and President of PLC Detroit, he has built industry-driven talent pipelines and led the reinstatement of Michigan’s only HBCU as the nation’s first design-focused historically Black college.

Higher education is at an inflection point. Institutions are facing a demographic cliff in traditional-age enrollment, softening international pipelines, and increasing scrutiny around the return on investment of a degree. At the same time, the World Economic Forum reports that 59 out of every 100 workers globally are projected to require reskilling or upskilling by 2030 to meet changing skills demands. As employers confront widening skills gaps and learners demand clearer career outcomes, colleges and universities are under pressure to rethink how they connect education to work.

So what does it actually take to build employer partnerships that go beyond advisory boards and one-off pilots—and become embedded, strategic drivers of institutional growth and learner success?

Welcome to Signals in Higher Ed. In the latest episode, host Darin Francis speaks with Stacy Chiaramonte, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations at UPCEA, about how institutions can shift from supply-driven programming to employer-informed strategy. Their conversation explores the realities of corporate engagement, the infrastructure required to support it, the role of experiential learning, and the frameworks UPCEA is developing to help institutions build sustainable university-to-business partnerships.

Throughout the episode, Chiaramonte emphasizes that there is no single structural model that guarantees success. What matters is alignment, leadership commitment, and a willingness to iterate—starting small if necessary, but building toward a coherent employer engagement strategy that serves both learners and institutions.

What you’ll learn…

• Employer engagement must be intentional and institution-wide. Successful models are backed by leadership, embedded in strategic plans, and aligned across academic units, career services, advancement, and continuing education.

• Institutions underestimate the time and resources required. Building meaningful corporate partnerships demands relationship management, operational support, and long-term commitment—not quick fixes.

• Credential innovation must involve employers from the start. Research from a Walmart Foundation–supported initiative found that many institutions are developing short-form credentials without meaningfully engaging employers in the design process

Stacy Chiaramonte serves as the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations at UPCEA, where she leads research and consulting initiatives focused on strategy, credential innovation, and organizational growth. She previously spent more than 13 years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), serving in senior leadership roles including Associate Vice President of Graduate Studies and Executive Director of Online and Corporate Programs, overseeing strategy, operations, and employer-connected graduate education. With earlier executive experience in operations and HR in the private sector, she brings deep expertise in strategic leadership, talent development, process improvement, and building high-performance teams across industry and higher education.

Workforce shortages, shifting federal and state policy, and rising skepticism about the return on investment of a traditional four-year degree have pushed career-connected learning to the forefront of education reform. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment is expected to increase by nearly 4.7 million jobs between 2022 and 2032, with millions of additional openings each year due to retirements and workers changing occupations. At the same time, many students graduate without clear pathways into stable careers, while employers struggle to build reliable talent pipelines. The stakes are economic, social, and generational.

So how do we connect young people to meaningful careers in a way that is scalable, equitable, and aligned with real workforce demand?

On this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, host Darin Francis sits down with Devyn Maguire, Chief Executive Officer of Runwayz, to explore what it takes to build a next-generation ecosystem for career connections. The conversation spans K–12 education, employer partnerships, community colleges, and the technology infrastructure required to connect students ages 15 to 25 with real-world opportunities. Together, they examine how Runwayz is piloting a platform designed to connect students, schools, and employers in a scalable career-connected learning ecosystem—closing the gap between talent supply and workforce demand.

The conversation delves into...

Why workforce shortages and policy shifts are accelerating the need for career-connected learning beyond the traditional college-only pathway.

How Runwayz is building a three-sided marketplace connecting students, schools, and employers through localized ecosystem pilots.

What it takes to make career exploration engaging and relevant for students—and why user experience and employer trust are critical to long-term success.

Devyn Maguire is the Chief Executive Officer of Runwayz and a Principal at Graham Cracker Innovations, where she specializes in strategic partnerships, go-to-market execution, and AI-driven growth initiatives within the education sector. With more than a decade of experience spanning K–12 classrooms, edtech startups, and enterprise customer success leadership at Packback, she has built and scaled partnerships that drive revenue growth, product adoption, and measurable institutional impact. Her expertise sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, workforce innovation, and education strategy, helping organizations align emerging technologies with sustainable business and learner outcomes.

Article written by MarketScale.

Experiential learning is having a bit of a reckoning moment in higher ed. For years, the default answer was “get an internship” or “do a co-op”—as if every student can pause life, relocate for a summer, and take on a high-stakes role that’s supposed to define their future. But students’ realities have changed: many are balancing work, family responsibilities, athletics, or financial constraints, while internship competition keeps getting tougher and opportunities are getting harder to secure. The result is a growing sense that if we don’t redesign experiential learning to be more flexible and more equitable, we’re going to keep rewarding the students who already have the most access—and leaving everyone else behind.

So how can universities deliver meaningful, equitable, and scalable experiential learning without forcing students to bet everything on a single, high-stakes internship?

Welcome to Signals in Higher Ed. In the latest episode, host Darin Francis sits down with Dr. Kemi Jona, Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation at the University of Virginia, to explore the university’s emerging “flood the zone” strategy—an approach designed to give students many low-risk, flexible opportunities to explore careers, build skills, and gain confidence long before a capstone or internship moment.

Together, they unpack how experiential learning can be reimagined across curricular and co-curricular contexts, why early exploration matters as much as advanced application, and how digital platforms and student-led infrastructure can unlock scale at even the largest R1 institutions.

Top insights from the talk…

• How “flooding the zone” with diverse, low-risk experiential opportunities reduces inequity and improves student decision-making.

• Why student clubs, career academies, and asynchronous projects may be the hidden infrastructure for scaling experiential learning.

• How experiential learning doubles as “authentic assessment” in an era of AI, offering outcomes that are both employer-valued and AI-resistant.

Dr. Kemi Jona is a higher education innovation leader with more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of learning sciences, digital education, and workforce strategy. As Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation at the University of Virginia, and previously a senior leader at Northeastern University, he has driven large-scale digital transformation, built enterprise learning partnerships with organizations like Google, IBM, and GE, and launched new lifelong learning and talent pathways. A former faculty member at Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern, Dr. Jona has led over $40M in funded research and is widely recognized for applying learning science to scalable, equitable, and industry-aligned education models.

Regional public universities are being asked to do more with fewer students, fewer dollars, and less margin for error—making student persistence, timely graduation, and career outcomes central institutional concerns. Under mounting enrollment pressure and a shifting labor market, experiential learning has moved from a “nice to have” to a strategic imperative. Research consistently shows that students who participate in work-based or applied learning are more likely to persist and graduate, and institutions are increasingly being asked to prove that these experiences are intentional, equitable, and scalable. Against a backdrop of demographic decline in the Northeast and Midwest, the stakes are clear: connecting learning to careers is no longer optional—it’s central to institutional sustainability.

So how can a tuition-driven public university design experiential learning that reaches students early, supports retention, and aligns academic and enrollment goals without overwhelming faculty or staff?

That question is at the heart of this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, hosted by Darin Francis. Darin is joined by Dr. John Rindy of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, who shares how the institution has built a data-informed, relationship-driven model to scale experiential and work-based learning as a core student success strategy. The episode explores how organizational structure, early intervention, and a clear “why” can turn experiential learning into a lever for persistence and graduation.

The main topics of conversation…

• Early college work-based learning as a retention strategy: How Slippery Rock uses paid, non-credit experiential learning in the first and second years to build context, motivation, and momentum toward 60 credits—a milestone associated with a 94%+ graduation rate.

• A three-function student success model: Why the Center for Career & Academic Progress integrates student-facing services, internal consulting, and applied research to move retention and completion metrics.

• From “buy-in” to enrollment: Dr. Rindy’s philosophy on leadership, faculty partnership, and why sustainable change depends on enrolling people in ideas rather than selling them.

Dr. John Rindy is a senior higher education leader with deep expertise in student retention, career education, and data-informed persistence strategy, currently serving as Assistant Vice President for the Center for Career & Academic Progress at Slippery Rock University. He has led campus-wide transformations that produced record-setting first-year retention (86%+), scaled work-based and experiential learning, and integrated predictive analytics, internal consulting, and applied research to drive student success and career outcomes. With prior experience as a CEO/COO in healthcare, a dean, a long-serving faculty member, and a career education innovator, Rindy brings a rare blend of executive leadership, academic partnership, and operational execution across education and industry.

As higher education faces mounting pressure to demonstrate clear career outcomes, institutions are rethinking how learning connects to work and the role of career coaching in that process. Employers continue to report skills gaps, students are questioning the return on investment of a degree, and states are demanding stronger alignment between postsecondary education and workforce needs. Research shows that students who participate in paid internships and other structured work-based learning experiences are more likely to secure employment and earn higher wages—yet access to these opportunities remains uneven.

So how can colleges and universities scale work-based learning and career coaching in ways that are equitable, sustainable, and truly impactful for students?

That question is at the heart of this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, hosted by Darin Francis. Francis is joined by Dr. Melissa Leavitt and Kevin Grubb of the Strada Education Foundation in a conversation about how career guidance and work-based learning can work together to transform the student experience. Drawing on research, policy insights, and on-the-ground institutional partnerships, the discussion examines what it takes to move from isolated programs to systemic change.

Top insights from the talk…

• How career coaching and work-based learning reinforce one another to improve student access, decision-making, and outcomes.

• Why paid, high-quality work-based learning experiences are critical for equity and long-term earnings.

• The role of states, systems, and employer partnerships in scaling career-connected education.

Dr. Melissa Leavitt is the Vice President of Postsecondary Education at the Strada Education Foundation and a seasoned social impact leader known for applying systems-level strategy to improve education-to-career outcomes. Her career spans higher education, philanthropy, and research, with deep expertise in program development, labor-market and postsecondary research, grantmaking, and cross-sector collaboration, including leading multi-year strategies and multi-million-dollar initiatives. A prolific researcher and communicator, she has authored major national reports, delivered dozens of executive-level presentations, and built research-driven thought leadership that influences policy, institutional practice, and workforce alignment.

Kevin Grubb is the Vice President of Work-Based Learning at the Strada Education Foundation and a nationally recognized leader in career development, institutional change, and employer partnership strategy. Formerly the inaugural Chief Career Officer at Villanova University, he designed and scaled innovative career pathways and employer engagement models that have shaped national conversations on workforce readiness and student outcomes. A Professional Certified Coach and longtime consultant, Grubb brings deep expertise in executive coaching, organizational change, and equity-centered work-based learning systems that expand access to high-quality career opportunities for all learners.

Healthcare systems across the U.S. are facing a persistent and worsening medical worker shortage, particularly in allied health roles that keep hospitals, clinics, and surgery centers running. Rural access gaps, rising tuition costs, and skepticism about the ROI of traditional degrees are colliding with urgent employer demand. At the same time, momentum is building around short-term credentials, hybrid training models, and the anticipated expansion of Workforce Pell—creating a rare window for higher education and employers to rethink how talent is trained and deployed.

Could experiential, hybrid learning, built in close partnership with employers, address today’s healthcare vacancies while also creating clear pathways into nursing and other advanced careers?

That question is at the heart of the latest episode of Signals in Higher Ed, hosted by Darin Francis. In this episode, Francis is joined by Jason Aubrey, founder and CEO of Skilltrade, as they explore how experiential learning models can directly address the medical worker shortage while reshaping higher education’s role in workforce development.

Together, they unpack how Skilltrade blends immersive online curriculum with in-person, hands-on labs delivered through partnerships with colleges, healthcare employers, and workforce agencies—creating faster, more affordable pathways into high-demand healthcare careers.

What you’ll learn…

• Why awareness, accessibility, and ROI are the real bottlenecks

Aubrey explains that many healthcare roles—like sterile processing or medical assisting—are “hidden gem” careers, offering strong wages and advancement potential but suffering from low awareness and limited access through traditional degree programs.

• How hybrid, experiential learning improves outcomes

Skilltrade combines virtual simulations, AI-driven patient interactions, and real clinical lab experiences, ensuring learners build confidence and competence before ever stepping into a job.

• The power of three-sided partnerships

By aligning higher education institutions, employers, and workforce agencies, Skilltrade helps unlock public and philanthropic funding, reduce student debt, and give employers a reliable pipeline of trained talent.

Jason Aubrey is a workforce development and edtech leader with a proven track record of scaling tech-enabled education and healthcare businesses, driving organizational change, and building employer-aligned talent pipelines. He previously led MedCerts to a successful acquisition by Stride, Inc., served as CEO of ClearGage, and has held leadership roles across product, sales, and go-to-market strategy in global education and technology companies. A University of Michigan graduate, Aubrey is also a repeat founder, investor, advisor, and board member, known for bridging higher education, employers, and workforce systems through innovative, outcomes-driven training models.