The Agility Imperative: How Employers View Preparation for an Uncertain Future

This report presents the findings from a national survey of employer views on higher education and its effectiveness in preparing students for the workforce. The survey of 1,030 executives and hiring managers was conducted online in August 2025 by Morning Consult. 

Consistent with longitudinal findings from previous AAC&U employer surveys, the 2025 survey found strong alignment between the outcomes of a liberal education and the skills and dispositions employers view as essential for success in entry-level jobs and for advancement in their organizations.

Key Findings

• Employer confidence in higher education is strong. Seventy percent of employers have either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in US higher education; 85 percent say colleges and universities are doing a good job of preparing students for the workforce, and 73 percent believe a college degree is worth the financial investment.
• Employers view higher education’s roles in workforce preparation and citizenship development as equally important. Ninety-four 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.
• Employers strongly support campus environments that protect open inquiry and diverse perspectives. Eighty-nine percent of employers agree that all topics should be open for discussion on college campuses. More than four in five say they would view a degree more favorably if it came from an institution free from government restrictions on learning and known for respecting diverse perspectives in the curriculum.
• Employers highly value—and express strong confidence in—graduates’ ability to engage constructively across disagreement. Ninety-six 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.
• Employers place high value on graduates’ preparation for an AI-enabled workforce—and express strong confidence that higher education is meeting this need. Nine in ten employers say it is important for graduates to have developed AI-related skills while in college, and 81 percent report confidence that colleges and universities are helping students build competencies aligned with current and emerging workplace applications of AI.
• Employers are more likely to hire graduates who participated in “high-impact practices” and other applied, hands-on experiences while in college. 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).
• Microcredentials provide a clear hiring advantage. Eighty-one percent of employers say a candidate’s possession of a microcredential—such as a digital badge or certificate—positively influences their hiring decisions.