Building Tomorrow's Workforce
The workforce – and how college graduates are entering it – is rapidly changing, and many universities and colleges are not keeping pace.
Holy Family's Job-Ready Academics
Educational technology company Cengage Group published a study in Spring 2021 examining graduate employability and discovering concerning findings. In a survey of 1,600 recent college graduates from 2-year and 4-year institutions, 21 percent said that they felt that their college did not provide them with the job skills needed in their fields. Half of those surveyed said they did not apply to entry-level jobs in their field of study because they felt underqualified, with one in three saying that they did not believe their education helped them get a job after graduation.
With millions of unfilled jobs requiring skilled labor, particularly in emerging fields, it has become increasingly important for graduates to be prepared with the required skills for a job from the moment they enter the workforce. As an anchor institution in Northeast Philadelphia, Holy Family University recognizes the critical importance of preparing graduates that are educated from the community to serve their community, with the University making an estimated economic contribution of $115 million to our local community.
Holy Family is also leading in the region for economic mobility by a substantial margin. According to data from Third Way, the earnings premium for a Holy Family graduate is more than $21,000 above a high school graduate and more than $7000 more than the average of our peer institutions.
To address these workforce challenges, the University began the new academic year with innovative new programs in cutting-edge fields of employment growth to create job-ready graduates to make impactful contributions and become industry leaders in Philadelphia, Bucks County, and beyond.
Today’s Tech
The School of Business & Professional Studies now offers three skill-focused majors in high-demand technology fields through a partnership with Rize, an innovative nationwide education consortium of colleges and universities. These programs, Applied Computer Science, Cybersecurity Administration, Cybersecurity & IT Management, are taught in a blended format and offer students the opportunity to earn a degree in some of the fastest-growing employment sectors in today’s market.
The new programs were selected based on offering students majors that would allow them to not only find good jobs but also to help graduates of Holy Family serve the needs of the community and society. According to labor market analytics company Lightcast, while the average job growth is projected to grow nationwide by 7.7 percent by 2031, computer science-related jobs are projected to grow at 15.6 percent nationwide over the same period. In cybersecurity, there is virtually zero-percent unemployment within the field, with approximately 460,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in the United States alone. Job growth in the sector is expected to grow by an astonishing 35 percent by 2031. Both fields also offer exciting opportunities for economic mobility – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees in Applied Computer Science and Cybersecurity positions had a median salary of over $100,000 in 2021.
These statistics demonstrate the growing demand for employment in these fields. Cybersecurity experts estimate that hackers start a new cyberattack starts about every 40 seconds, with Cybercrime Magazine expecting that costs related to cybercrime will reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, far greater than costs associated with natural disasters and putting the financial, health, and government data of hundreds of millions of people worldwide at risk. A degree in computer science can provide students with a broad foundation in proficient computer skills and teach them logical thinking and problem-solving skills that can be adaptable to nearly any field in the ever-changing digital world. The undergraduate program also gives the University the foundation to build master’s programs in computer science disciplines to meet future growth demand in the fields.
Holy Family’s three programs were developed in collaboration with Google and focus on preparing students for employment by helping them develop not only the skills for the job but also by helping them create a resume and portfolio that will help them find employment immediately after graduation. New Holy Family students demonstrated an immediate interest in these new programs, ensuring a successful launch of both academic programs this fall.
“We introduced these three new majors for the School of Business & Professional Studies to prepare our students with in-demand skills in business fields that are expected to have explosive growth over the next decade,” said Kristi Ringen, Ed.D., dean of the School of Business & Professional Studies. “The successful launch of all three programs shows that our students immediately recognized the value of these majors in developing their future careers. We look forward to building on this successful introduction as we create additional new programs in the School of Business & Professional Studies that will allow our graduates to answer the needs of the community with their skills.”
STEM
For decades, the University’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences has been one of the region’s leading schools in addressing the critical need for nursing and medical professionals in Philadelphia and beyond. New programs in the school continue the University’s commitment to providing cutting-edge knowledge in nursing.
This year, the School of Nursing & Health Sciences expanded the scope of its renowned Second Degree BSN program, named a Top 10 Accelerated Nursing Program in Philadelphia for both 2021 and 2022 by Best Value Schools, by offering the program as a hybrid format.
Holy Family’s Second Degree Distance Hybrid BSN program is a full-time program designed for learners with a bachelor’s degree that prepares students for nursing licensure in just over a year. The program includes a week-long campus residency to help students develop hands-on clinical skills by working with our faculty and other nursing students in the University’s high-tech simulation lab as well as clinical placements in the students’ communities to address nursing needs close to home.
Students who reside in Pennsylvania (excluding the following counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Vermont now have the opportunity to work with Holy Family’s faculty and resources, allowing the University’s nursing program to make an even greater impact in nursing education throughout the United States.
The School of Nursing & Health Sciences has also built on its Associate of Science in Radiologic Science and post-primary certification programs with its new Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Science (BSRS) program, offered to radiologic technologists certified by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) or equivalent based on ARRT Supporting Category requirements. The program is designed for those in the field interested in supervision and management roles, which are in demand throughout the radiologic science profession.
The Business of Esports and Marketing
To complement the new majors in the School of Business & Professional Studies, the University has also partnered with Rize to offer three new minors, Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing, and Esports & Gaming Administration, to provide students with even more options to learn about emerging digital fields. Along with the field of cybersecurity, both digital marketing and Esports and gaming are innovative and exciting fields and these programs offer students the opportunity to explore careers in these growing sectors.
In courses for the Digital Marketing minor, students are learning how the transformation of the global economy has impacted the traditional marketing field that has incorporated digital media – from online advertising to social media to search engine optimization and beyond – into its advertising channels. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that job opportunities in marketing will increase by 10 percent by 2031, and LinkedIn has ranked digital marketing as the sixth fastest-growing field based on its employment data.
The field of Esports – also known as competitive gaming – encapsulates everything from traditional console video games to smartphone applications to cutting-edge computer games that are played globally in competitive settings. According to video game data analytics company Newzoo, the Esports audience was projected to grow to over half a billion people worldwide in 2022 and is projected to reach nearly 650 million people and generate $1.87 billion in revenue by 2025, particularly in emerging gaming markets outside of North America. Students earning a minor in Esports & Gaming Administration are learning the business fundamentals required to work across industries with a strong focus on the games industry and the growing role of Esports within it.
The new Esports & Gaming Administration minor is also supported by the University’s new Esports Center, a dynamic new facility located in the Campus Center Commons that features 20 gaming stations. The Esports Center will also be the home of one of the newest Holy Family University Athletics programs, Esports.
Internship Initiative Prepares Students for the Workforce
The renewed emphasis on job-ready academic programs at Holy Family goes beyond the University’s new undergraduate programs. The University has committed to pursuing internships and field placement opportunities for every student and has created an internship graduation requirement to ensure that all students graduate with professional experience relevant to their fields of study. Studies have continued to demonstrate the important role that internships serve in college students' development of career skills. A 2022 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed on internships and experiential learning found that nearly two-thirds of students with experiential learning opportunities said they were very helpful in preparing them for their careers.
Students will become eligible for the internship course that will fulfill the graduation requirement in their junior or senior years. They will receive substantial, individualized career services from the University’s expanded Career Development Center, led by Angela Cutchineal, MSHE, Director of Career Development.
“Experiential learning provides students with the opportunity to put into practice the content and skills taught in the classroom, through an internship,” says Cutchineal. “They can apply those expanding skills, and then return to the classroom for reflection with our great instructors. This cycle of learning through reflection on doing is the vehicle for our students to explore their chosen field of study before graduation, ensuring that they are making informed decisions regarding their career path while gaining experience. Once into the workforce, after graduation, these young professionals will be bringing with them insight into current industry trends, experience, and a desire to continue learning and growing within our community’s businesses. Hiring an intern student is the right move for the business and it’s the right move for our community.”