About That 'Employer Confidence in Higher Ed' Victory Lap

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This morning, AAC&U released a research report that was touted as showing that employers have high confidence in higher ed.

Misleading Framing

The trade press was more effusive in this “good news” and the good job claim, as seen at Inside Higher Ed’s framing of the report.

But if you look at the actual results, only 38% of employers think that colleges and universities “are doing a very good job and do not need major changes.”

A higher percentage, 47%, think that colleges and universities “are doing a somewhat good job but should make some changes.” That is not what I would call a strong vote of confidence. Going further, I think it is misleading to summarize these results and claim “85 percent say colleges and universities are doing a good job of preparing students for the workforce.” Further, focusing on an abstract question of do you have confidence in higher education is nearly meaningless.

Changes Over Time

Looking further, the problem is that the less-reported data tell a troubling story, if you look at things that actually matter, one of which is the changes over time (comparing the 2018, 2021, and 2025 reports).

We have to be careful to not take the longitudinal comparison too far, as the questions and methodologies of AAC&U’s research has changed over time, but there are interesting high-level trends to watch. From the perspective of narrative, the abstract confidence has risen, but the view of the value of a college education has softened, and there is a persistent preparedness gap over time.

On the question of the value of education, whether it is a worthwhile investment, there is some nuance to observe.

The drop in perception of value is not as simple as dropping from 87% to 73%, since there was a new addition “it depends on the field or job” that was selected by 15% of respondents ¹ . This is consistent with what I’ve seen, in that increasing number of fields are not worth the investment even if the broad concept of higher education remains high.

Preparedness

A much more relevant set of questions in the context of employer perceptions revolves around preparedness of college graduates. The broad skills valued as most important by employers have remained quite consistent, but unfortunately, there has been a persistent gap between the importance of a skill and perceptions of preparedness.

66% of employers value critical thinking as a very important skill, yet only 40% of employers think college graduates are very well prepared, a 26% gap. There are similar gaps for teamwork, oral communication, ability to apply knowledge to real-world settings, and a few others.

If you look at 2018 and 2021 reports, you get a similar story. In terms of graduates’ preparedness, between ~ 35 - 48% of employers them as ready with the most important skills. And note how much worse the gaps are for 2025 above (19 - 26% for the top skills) vs. 2018 below (6 - 21% for the top skills).

Don’t Pick the Wrong Narrative

In what world would you see fewer than 50% of employers perceiving your graduates as very well prepared for the most important skills and think this report is good news? And if you take the time to compare against previous reports, how can you ignore the softening views on investment value of higher education and the worsening preparedness gaps as being something to brush off as a minor nuance?

We need a clear-eyed view of our challenges if US higher education is to reverse its downward trend and better serve society.

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1  The chart in the report shows 16%, which I have adjusted by 1% based on report demographics and rounding.