Giving Compass' Take:

• A survey of college seniors from the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University's School of Education found that the majority of students believe their courses are relevant for to their careers.  

• This survey is good news for schools helping to close gaps in the job market and preparing them for the future workforce.  Can we potentially help students find resources for their career paths before college? 

• Read more about how schools can better align their college training with workforce needs. 

Most college seniors (93%) believe what they are learning is "relevant to their career paths," though students in professional fields such as business and engineering had slightly more confidence than those in the arts and sciences, according to a recent survey by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University's School of Education. The survey polled more than 275,000 first-years and seniors across 476 colleges.

Nearly half (47%) of seniors said their college experience contributed "very much" to their critical and analytical thinking abilities. Although students who discuss their future careers with professionals and advisors are more likely to indicate confidence in their post-graduation plans, only about half (53%) of those indicating they completed career preparation items used their college's career services sources "at least sometimes" during their senior year to talk about careers.

Better preparing students for the job market has been a hot topic in higher education as the emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing eat up some jobs while creating others.

Survey results indicate students feel even less equipped to deal with these future workplace realities. Among 3,297 U.S. adults, only 22% of those with at least a bachelor's degree said their education left them either "well" or "very well prepared" to use AI in their jobs, according to a recent Gallup-Northeastern University survey.

To close the gap between skilled workers and job market demand, colleges can better tailor their programming by finding ways to align it with competencies valued in the workplace and current labor market demands, a report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce recommends.

Read the full article about relevant college courses for the future workforce by Natalie Schwartz at Education Dive