Employer Views on Civic Engagement & Workforce Preparation

In December, AAC&U released The Agility Imperative: How Employers View Preparation for an Uncertain Future, a report on the findings from a national survey of employer views on higher education and its effectiveness in preparing students for the workforce. Conducted online in August 2025 by Morning Consult, the survey of 1,030 executives and hiring managers is the ninth commissioned by AAC&U since 2006.

Among the key findings, employers expressed both confidence and prioritization related to civic engagement learning and outcomes including: 

96% percent of employers say it is useful for graduates to have developed the ability to engage in constructive dialogue across disagreement while in college, and 80 percent are confident that colleges and universities are helping students develop skills that support constructive dialogue across disagreement in the workplace.

94% percent of employers believe colleges and universities should help students become informed citizens—the same share who say institutions should help prepare a skilled and educated workforce.

More than three in four employers say they would be more likely to consider hiring graduates who completed an internship or apprenticeship (81 percent), held a leadership role (81 percent), engaged with a community organization or completed a community-based project (76 percent), worked with people from diverse backgrounds or cultures (75 percent), or served as a peer mentor or advisor (75 percent).

“The findings in this report make the strongest case yet that educating students to be responsible citizens and educating them to be agile professionals is a false binary,” said Ashley Finley, AAC&U Vice President for Research and author of the report. “Employers, especially those under the age of forty, strongly endorse a college education that does both. This is a great opportunity to position community and civic engagement across disciplines as a ‘must have’ for career success.”

Join us and Campus Compact for this webinar where Dr. Ashley Finley will share findings and takeaways and also engage participants around how these insights reinforce the necessity of civic engagement and how we can ensure our campuses are responding. 

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