Industry and Higher Education

This study considers the 2-year bilingual Masters programme, ‘Cultural Intelligence and Innovation’ at Université de Paris, for which classes are taught in English and in French. Alumni are working as strategic planners, brand managers, community managers, advertisers, futures and trend specialists, web content writers and project leads in a wide variety of organizations throughout the world. This humanities-driven programme has empathy and sensibility at its heart, firstly through the exercise of the imagination and multilingualism and the attendant ability to identify with others, and, secondly, by being attuned to society’s faint frequencies allowing cultural foresight. The programme encourages work outside the confines of discipline as well as critique and counter-thinking. Thinking culture and industry together (academic teachers join forces with those from industry to create hybrid content for courses) is important in preparing the students for work. The programme also fosters the ability to detect shifts in sensibility as a first step in innovation. Finally, the authors consider how the programme might be generalized and similar initiatives established in other higher education institutions.

This case study analyzes the use by high-profile employers of the brainpower of nearly 1400 humanities undergraduates through “live” projects. At the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University, a cohort of hundreds advises a set of public, private, and third sector organizations each year in a capstone course within the multidisciplinary Bachelor of Arts in International Studies program. In this course, aptly named PRactising International Studies (PRINS), students have, in teams, successfully consulted for employers including Google, the World Food Programme, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Drawing on experience of designing, recruiting for, and running the PRINS course, the author offers evidence of the distinct value of humanities to practice, which is demonstrable even at the undergraduate level. The analysis entails the ex ante knowledge needs employers sought to have fulfilled by humanities students, and the ex post recommendations in their consultancies that employers have acknowledged as practically relevant. The findings indicate the potential of large-scale consultancy courses in the preparation of students for the labor market and the need for humanities graduates in future workplaces worldwide.

The research and practice are clear: the humanities develop empathy, sensibility, and other individual skills critical to successful employment. But, they also support the development of collective skills that empower productive teams and workplaces. This article explores the collective impact of narrative literature through the lens of an innovative workplace-based learning program. The program uses facilitated conversations about literature to invite colleagues at all levels to practice questioning assumptions, listening to different voices, and connecting to new ideas and to each other. Examining data from over 800 participants, the authors provide scholarly and practice-based evidence that literature discussions support otherwise elusive workplace dynamics. The results establish the link between shared human experience and workplace quality, as colleagues learn to be and work together. In addition, the concept of collaborative literacy that emerges from this study promises a new approach to learning in multiple non-traditional settings and in the academy itself.

This article focuses specifically on drama and theatre higher education (HE) programmes and preparation for potential graduate work. The article investigates working in the creative industries and in the performing arts (particularly within acting) and how HE students in the United Kingdom prepare for this life. The growth of the creative industries and successful applied drama in the public and private sectors has also brought business interest in how drama and theatre processes can benefit other workplaces, outside of the creative arts. The article addresses current policy, initiatives and partnerships to broaden inclusion and access to creative work. The research explores drama undergraduate degrees and the university’s role in supporting a successful transition from HE to graduate work. Students perceive the university world as safe and the graduate world as precarious and unsafe. The research findings have resonance with other undergraduate degrees, outside of the arts and the role the university plays in student transitions from the university to the graduate environment.