Giving Compass' Take:

• Hallie Busta shares insights from SXSW EDU 2019 where experts discussed the failings and successes of the college-to-career handoff. 

• How can funders help identify and spread effective handoff strategies? 

• Learn about aligning college training with workforce needs. 

On the list of areas in need of improvement in higher ed, few would dispute including the bridge from college to career. More funding, better training and heightened awareness across campus of the kinds of services available to students have all been cited as ways of bettering the process.

And they were a point of discussion among higher ed leaders on Monday at the ninth-annual SXSW EDU, in Austin, Texas — particularly for underserved student groups.

"We think that by bolting on a career services office, disrespecting it, underfunding it, not taking it seriously, shoving it in a basement somewhere, that students are going to somehow, like through osmosis, get everything we wish they would to prepare themselves," said Bridget Burns, executive director of the University Innovation Alliance, during one panel on the topic.

"We need to intentionally design a handoff so we are integrating the curriculum experience and what will prepare (students) for the workforce and it's a seamless transition," she added.

Just one in three college students thinks what they're learning in school will help them find success in the job market and the workplace, according to data from Gallup and the Strada Education Network. Other research shows students are more likely to get career advice from their instructors than from career services.

Yet, according to a separate Strada report, four in 10 graduates were underemployed in their first job after college. Five years later, two-thirds were still in that position.

Colleges are moving to change that. As one recent example, seven UIA members, all large public institutions, are teaming up to share best practices for improving career services for low-income and first-generation students.

Small institutions can provide replicable models for these groups, too.

Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, in Dallas, offered one example. Under Sorrell's leadership, Paul Quinn turned from a struggling liberal arts college nearing closure to a federally designated urban work college. Now, it is on the upswing and expanding its model to other institutions.

Read the full article about the college-to-career handoff by Hallie Busta at Education Dive.