Relying on college degrees, grades, and Congress to loosen immigration laws has left high-tech employers short on qualified employees. Now they’re done waiting and plan to start preparing their future workforce themselves.
Technology companies are banding together in the Open Education Alliance to provide online courses on a grand scale, reports Education News:
Recently, Google reported on its own hiring process showed that candidate’s college grades and even their performance on the famously rigorous interviews did not correlate at all with their success in the company. Therefore, it is possible that while Google starts giving less weight to actual college degrees, it might instead look for candidates that took OEA-approved courses.
…there are plenty of brilliant students throughout the world who only have access to courses via Udacity or Khan Academy; the Alliance would allow these prodigies, for the first time, to prove their talents to tech companies by taking courses and earning certificates from online education providers.
The OEA intends to help colleges be more career relevant and also help those who don’t have access to traditional universities still get a shot at success.
The OEA will (hopefully) create a new meritocracy in higher education. Every student will have an opportunity to prove their talents and any education provider will have an opportunity to develop curricula that become known for producing innovative workers.
Now that’s a breath of fresh air: merit, access, affordability, and innovation—brought to you compliments of the private sector, not the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement.