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Women Have Figured Out Continuing Studies - Peter Walton

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Peter Walton

Women are flocking to continuing education programs in greater numbers than men, recognizing the importance of lifelong learning in a changing job market. While less than 15% of applicants to Simon Fraser University's continuing studies programs in public relations, digital communications, and media journalism are men, over 85% are university-educated women in their 20s and 30s seeking career-applicable skills. As jobs in traditional male-dominated sectors decline, women have proven quicker to understand the need to continuously adapt skills to new economic demands through additional education, like coding classes, whereas many men do not see the value in returning to school.

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Women Have Figured Out Continuing Studies FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 Article originally published on The EvoLLLution at http://www.evolllution.com/featured/women-have-figured- out-continuing-studies/ By Peter Walton |Associate Director of Lifelong Learning, Simon Fraser University Every year I interview hundreds of fe- male applicants for our universitys Continuing Studies Public Relations, Digital Communications and New Me- dia Journalism certificate programs. These accelerated, full-time, practical programs attract primarily university or college-educated women in their 20s and 30s with an eye on a good career. I dont interview many men. In fact less than 15% of our programs applicants are men. Its as if many men, faced with a prolonged economic slowdown and the disappearance of traditional male jobs in manufacturing, have given up and arent interested in going back to school. Meanwhile university and college-edu- cated women are flocking to Continuing Studies professional programs. In our complex world, where successful work- ers will face rapid changes during their working lives, women have figured out the importance of lifelong learning. Of the 30 professions projected to add the most jobs over the next decade, wom- en now dominate 20. As author Hanna Rosin writes in her book The End of Men, the new econ- omy is reshaping our culture. The very things women are often good athu- man contact, interpersonal skills, ver- bal skills, and creativityare now more valued in the workplace than brawn or strength. Women like the applicants I interview have been quicker than men to figure out that a university or college degree, while important, is no longer enough. There are too many B.A.s and M.A.s struggling to find work or trapped in low-skilled jobs. According to a recent Guardian article, more than 35% of UK university graduates in the previous six years are employed in lower-skilled oc- cupations. In Canada, where the unemployment rate for 15 to 29 year olds stands at nearly 12%, having an undergraduate degree is now the new high school diploma; it is the bare education mini- mum that doesnt make job candidates stand out as it did a generation ago. Todays world requires a broad base of skills, not merely a narrow range of out- dated technical knowledge. Learning to write an essay, analyze a poem, in- terpret a work of art, conduct research, and argue a point of view are important skills, but education is also about help- ing people to find a job, or do their job. Heres one suggestion. Continuing Studies should teach code, the lan- guage used to create websites. Not just because there is a worldwide shortage of computer programmers. Code is one of the key languages used to communi- cate in our digital world. Currently there are few women who know code. But that will change. This summer our Continuing Studies pro- gram sponsored two sold-out training sessions called Ladies Learning Code, which taught 80 women how to create websites. Future sessions have been scheduled for the fall. PHOTO BY JASMIN MERDAN Increasing numbers of women are returning to higher education institutions to pursuing continuing education, showing a savvy for the modern-day workforce realities that men dont seem to have picked up on.

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Women Have Figured Out Continuing Studies - Peter Walton

  • 1. Women Have Figured Out Continuing Studies FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012 Article originally published on The EvoLLLution at http://www.evolllution.com/featured/women-have-figured- out-continuing-studies/ By Peter Walton |Associate Director of Lifelong Learning, Simon Fraser University Every year I interview hundreds of fe- male applicants for our universitys Continuing Studies Public Relations, Digital Communications and New Me- dia Journalism certificate programs. These accelerated, full-time, practical programs attract primarily university or college-educated women in their 20s and 30s with an eye on a good career. I dont interview many men. In fact less than 15% of our programs applicants are men. Its as if many men, faced with a prolonged economic slowdown and the disappearance of traditional male jobs in manufacturing, have given up and arent interested in going back to school. Meanwhile university and college-edu- cated women are flocking to Continuing Studies professional programs. In our complex world, where successful work- ers will face rapid changes during their working lives, women have figured out the importance of lifelong learning. Of the 30 professions projected to add the most jobs over the next decade, wom- en now dominate 20. As author Hanna Rosin writes in her book The End of Men, the new econ- omy is reshaping our culture. The very things women are often good athu- man contact, interpersonal skills, ver- bal skills, and creativityare now more valued in the workplace than brawn or strength. Women like the applicants I interview have been quicker than men to figure out that a university or college degree, while important, is no longer enough. There are too many B.A.s and M.A.s struggling to find work or trapped in low-skilled jobs. According to a recent Guardian article, more than 35% of UK university graduates in the previous six years are employed in lower-skilled oc- cupations. In Canada, where the unemployment rate for 15 to 29 year olds stands at nearly 12%, having an undergraduate degree is now the new high school diploma; it is the bare education mini- mum that doesnt make job candidates stand out as it did a generation ago. Todays world requires a broad base of skills, not merely a narrow range of out- dated technical knowledge. Learning to write an essay, analyze a poem, in- terpret a work of art, conduct research, and argue a point of view are important skills, but education is also about help- ing people to find a job, or do their job. Heres one suggestion. Continuing Studies should teach code, the lan- guage used to create websites. Not just because there is a worldwide shortage of computer programmers. Code is one of the key languages used to communi- cate in our digital world. Currently there are few women who know code. But that will change. This summer our Continuing Studies pro- gram sponsored two sold-out training sessions called Ladies Learning Code, which taught 80 women how to create websites. Future sessions have been scheduled for the fall. PHOTO BY JASMIN MERDAN Increasing numbers of women are returning to higher education institutions to pursuing continuing education, showing a savvy for the modern-day workforce realities that men dont seem to have picked up on.