Li: Solving the Workforce Crisis Will Require a Culture Shift in Higher Education

Record high employment combined with low unemployment rates has sounded the alarm: There are not enough workers to go around. As the demand for a well-educated workforce rises, UNO Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA has authored a new op-ed demonstrating how UNO and higher education as an industry have both an opportunity and a responsibility to respond to community needs and increase the social mobility of all learners.

Li asserts that this culture shift in higher education can be done through expanding learning modalities and pedagogies, providing flexible offerings and microcredentials, and meeting all learners where they are. This means opening doors for more people of all backgrounds and experiences to pursue a college education.

“No matter their background or experiences, it is the drive to follow ambitions that makes someone a learner,” Li wrote. “As a community, we must work on removing the perception of exclusivity in higher ed because the primary responsibility of a university is educating citizens. Public universities exist to provide accessible and affordable education for the masses.”

She writes that UNO aspires to change the social culture and perception of higher education, and that the university has done so through launching efforts like Career Connect, the Future of Work Symposium, and the Office of Engagement.

Read the full op-ed piece by Chancellor Li as published in the Omaha World-Herald.