In my rush of daily office and teaching life it is easy to be overwhelm in grades, meetings and day-to-day business. One night when I step back one question popped in my head: " Am I preparing my students for the world they will face upon graduation?".
The beauty of having experience in the corporate and academe is that you possess the ability to understand both world. Connecting these world is like merging two rivers and the merging point results to a bigger one.
To navigate a turbulent river will require skills and putting it in analogy: to navigate the future will require skills.
The following then are the skills:
1. Knowledge on the major subjects . They must be firmly grounded in Finance content knowledge if they major in Finance. The process is the same whatever major they choose.
2. Flexibility. They should develop their skills to cope in rapid change of tasks or job description. The world now is different and job conditions may be subjected to exponential change.
3. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving skills. In the workplace, you will decide based on limited information. Students should be trained to solve problems mostly should be a complex one.
4. Communication and collaboration skills. Nothing beats skills in writing and oral communication because this is important in an increasing technology usage.
5. Self-management and IT literacy. Students must know how to set personal goals and use various IT software relevant to his/her profession.
6. Values. Telling the truth and acting based on respect & honesty are highly valued in an effective organization. Those who practices good values are always rewarded.
The students should invest on the above skills and teachers like me should be updated to meet the needs of the modern economy.
Arnel L. Cadeliña
