Higher education & COVID-19: The future of learning, opportunity, and work

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified many challenges in higher education including the need to expand college access, reduce reliance on in-person instruction, and ensure that adult learners are positioned to succeed. In order to effectively respond to challenges resulting from the pandemic, along with the needs of the U.S. workforce in years to come, the federal government must address the short-term needs of students affected by the pandemic and spur structural change. Without reforms to higher education, gaps in the labor market will continue to grow and ultimately hinder the economic recovery.

On Thursday, October 8, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution hosted a webcast discussion examining the future of higher education and workforce development during COVID-19 and beyond. The webcast event featured a keynote address from Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.-03), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor.

Following the keynote remarks, the webcast included a roundtable discussion with: Mary Sue Coleman, former president, Association of American Universities and president emerita, University of Michigan; Andrew P. Kelly, senior vice president for strategy and policy, The University of North Carolina System; James Kvaal, president, The Institute for College Access & Success; Belle Wheelan, president, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges; moderated by Hamilton Project Policy Director Kristen Broady. It also featured a research discussion with: Richard Arum, dean, School of Education, University of California, Irvine; Mitchell Stevens, professor of education, Stanford University; moderated by Hamilton Project Director Wendy Edelberg.

The webcast coincided with the release of a paper by Richard Arum (University of California, Irvine) and Mitchell Stevens (Stanford University), offering ideas to ensure traditional colleges and universities and federal college funding programs respond to the acute learning needs brought on by the pandemic and successfully prepare the future workforce; and the release of a Hamilton Project analysis and two accompanying online interactives on career earnings by college major and a student debt calculator.

For updates on the event, follow @HamiltonProj. Join the conversation on Twitter using #CovidEconomy to ask questions or email [email protected].