Graduates today are entering a dynamic and volatile world, and Champlain College's Core Curriculum is preparing them to lead rich and exciting lives, both personally and professionally. In keeping with Champlain's professional focus, our Core has been developed according to best practices in higher education and in consultation with a large body of research that explores the specific qualities and capabilities that today's employers seek.
Employers in most fields report placing a high premium on hiring graduates who arrive on the job already in possession of "soft" skills—or power skills, as we and many others prefer to call them. Our four-year Core Curriculum emphasizes these competencies:
- critical and creative thinking
- curiosity and problem-solving
- the ability to evaluate a situation from multiple perspectives
- effective communication
- global awareness
- ethical reasoning
- teamwork
Here is a brief list of just some of the research that was instrumental in our decision to create an interdisciplinary, integrative Core Curriculum—and that continues to inform its design:
- "How College Contributes to Workforce Success: Employer Views on What Matters Most," Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2021
- "Skills for 2030 (pdf)" Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2019
- "The World Needs Students with Interdisciplinary Education," Issues in Science and Technology, 2019
- "New Survey: Demand for 'Uniquely Human Skills' Increases," Cengage, 2019
- 2018 Workplace Learning Report [download], LinkedIn, 2018
- "Employers Want to See These Attributes on Students' Resumes," National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2018
- "Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work," Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), 2018
- "The Future of Jobs [download]," World Economic Forum, 2016
- "Four Ways Talented 20-Somethings Are Building Great Careers," Forbes, 2016
- "Tech's Most Valuable Teacher Is a Harvard Classics Major," Forbes, 2016
- "Want Innovative Thinking? Hire from the Humanities," Harvard Business Review, 2011
Recognition of Champlain's Innovative Core Curriculum