Program to Occupation Possibilities: Labor Market Information for Students

Session Abstract: The value of higher education and ROI (return on investment) are frequent news topics. Regardless of the purposes of higher education, students and others often want to know about employment possibilities. This session introduces labor market information (LMI) and describes how the University of Cincinnati engaged our labor market partner, Lightcast, and UC stakeholders to map academic programs to job possibilities and publish LMI on program websites via UC’s academic program catalog (https://webapps2.uc.edu/ecurriculum/DegreePrograms/List) and the Lightcast widget. This presentation will cover (1) the role and value of labor market information (LMI) in higher ed; (2) how it aligns with University of Cincinnati values and goals; (3) engagement with critical partners (e.g., academic programs, Curricular Operations, IT unit, marketing and communication) to embed LMI data on academic program web pages; (4) job possibilities and actuals; (5) LMI widget usage and feedback; and (6) LMI challenges and possibilities.

Keywords: labor market data tool, occupations, ROI, advising, career coach, widget, Lightcast

Contributing Authors: Susana Luzuriaga Voight – Acting Vice Provost for Academic Analytics, University of Cincinnati; Adrian Hall – Associate Vice Provost, University of Cincinnati; Michelle Behaeghe – IT Manager, Digital Technology Solutions, University of Cincinnati