Business schools and universities want companies to hire their graduates.

Dr Jason Blackstock was a founding Head of Department at University College London (UCL) and has previously taught and led research at Harvard, UCL and Oxford. Today, Jason is the founder and CEO of How to Change the World, a social enterprise which he spun out from UCL, which delivers mass experiential learning focused on transforming careers for a sustainable future. He explains how institutions can help ensure that their graduates are attractive to employers.

Here are his words:

Higher education plays a crucial role in preparing students for the workforce — yet there sometimes remains a disconnect between academic experiences and the skills employers seek. In 2014, a Gallup survey found that only 11% of American business leaders had confidence that graduates were workforce-ready. Over a decade later, the challenge persists, and might even be getting bigger.

According to research by Hult International Business School, 98% of leaders say their organisation is struggling to find talent, yet 89% say they now actively avoid hiring recent graduates. The top reasons cited include a lack of real-world experience (60%), an insufficient global mindset (57%), poor teamwork skills (55%), high training costs (53%), a mismatch in skill sets (51%), and weak business etiquette (50%). 

These statistics are troubling; the gap between education and the world of work clearly remains a pressing issue. Addressing this challenge means focusing on the specific skills hiring managers are looking for. Graduates need practical real-world experience, global and interdisciplinary mindsets, collaboration, and professional skills. The bad news? Hiring managers clearly don’t see those things today. The good news? We already have a proven way of providing these invaluable skills and mindsets: experiential learning. We just need to deploy it more. 

When designed effectively, experiential learning enables students to grapple with the complexities of modern, messy challenges in fail-safe environments. Through hands-on experiences combined with structured reflection and analyses, students develop resilient, entre/intrapreneurial mindsets, as well as practical skills and frameworks for professional environments. Deeper learning, better internalisation of relevant knowledge and personal growth are just added benefits of experiential learning done well. 

It is worth noting that this is different from traditional case methods. Analysing and debating historical business decisions has pedagogical value; but the experience is different than iteratively tackling complex real-world problems. Case studies can strongly complement experiential learning, providing valuable opportunities to sharpen analytic skills and reflect on the links between theory and practice.

Overreliance on the case method, however, can yield graduates with strong analytic abilities to critique business decisions and strategies, but without the practical skills and mindsets to effectively implement the decisions and strategies of their employers. 

Real-world challenges can deepen student learning and research

That’s why effective experiential learning is so important. It can immerse students in complex, real-world business contexts. It can empower them to develop a global, interdisciplinary mindset through collaboration with peers and professionals from different sectors, institutions and geographies. Working on live projects with real-world implications requires students to learn to iterate and adapt, cultivate professional etiquette, and engage with diverse perspectives – all critical skills for the graduates of today, and the business leaders of tomorrow. 

For educators, delivering effective experiential learning generally requires a shift in approach. Transitioning from lecturer to facilitator can be challenging. It involves learning to guide students through dynamic problem-solving processes, while coaching them on applying frameworks and tools to unfamiliar contexts. Because there are rarely clear “right” answers to complex real-world problems, educators must learn to evaluate the process students follow, rather than just their final results.

When implemented effectively, though, this shift can significantly enhance student learning experiences and outcomes. The added benefit is that, when structured carefully, it can also provide faculty with opportunities to test and refine how their research ideas and frameworks apply in the practical contexts the students are working on. 

We know this approach works. At How to Change the World, we’ve run mass experiential learning programs for thousands of students and early-career professionals from over 70 universities and colleges. Participants work on real-world challenges, supported by experts, in interdisciplinary, interinstitutional teams. Feedback consistently shows that alumni of our programs feel empowered with the skills and mindsets they need to tackle wicked problems, and their outcomes demonstrate that these are exactly the skills and mindsets employers are seeking. 

From the rise of AI to the implications of climate change, workforce transformation is accelerating. By grounding business education with hands-on experience tackling complex real-world challenges, we can ensure our graduates are prepared to both meet the demands of today’s workplace, and to shape the direction of tomorrow’s businesses. 

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