The EvoLLLution (Evo): What is the most significant systemic challenge higher ed faces in aligning learning with workforce demand?
Constance St. Germain (CSG): The first step is understanding why healthcare is facing growing talent gaps. We partnered with Harris Poll to survey over 1,500 patient-facing healthcare employees, and what emerged was a workforce at a crossroads. Burnout is high, turnover is accelerating and workplace demands are intensifying.
What stood out most is that fewer than a third of employees feel valued by their employer. When people don’t feel valued, they’re less likely to stay. In fact, one in five healthcare employees said their employer isn’t invested in their long-term career success beyond their current role. So, the challenge isn’t just filling roles but retaining and supporting the workforce. There’s a real opportunity, especially with Gen Z, to drive engagement and loyalty. And one of the clearest levers is education benefits—giving employees a pathway forward through learning and tuition support.
Evo: How must higher ed evolve beyond their traditional degree structure to deliver more agile, workforce-aligned learning for these healthcare professionals?
CSG: What’s interesting about higher education is that it’s thousands of years old, and it was designed for a very different student. Even 100 years ago, it was built for someone 18 to 22, attending full-time, often with their parents’ support. That’s simply not who the learner is today. Today’s students are more likely in their late 20s or 30s, working full-time, with families and competing responsibilities. The challenge isn’t ability or ambition but bandwidth. And when institutions are still geared toward the traditional learner, even highly motivated individuals will struggle.
So, flexibility in when and how learning happens isn’t a nice to have. It’s essential. And just as important, learners want a clear return on their investment. They need to see how what they can apply their learning immediately, and institutions must partner with employers to ensure those pathways are clear, relevant and align with real workforce needs.
Evo: What role should real-time labor market intelligence play in shaping healthcare education, especially as everything is moving faster than we can walk?
CSG: Honestly, it needs to be the foundation, not something supplemental. Whether it’s informing curriculum design or student advising, labor market intelligence should guide how institutions stay both responsive and responsible.
In healthcare, where shortages are acute and highly localized, it’s not enough to look at national trends. Institutions need to understand what’s happening regionally and even at the employer level. When you bring that kind of real-time intelligence into the process, you’re truly connecting learning to workforce needs. It ensures that, from the moment curriculum is developed through to employment, students are being prepared for the roles that exist today, not yesterday.
Evo: How can higher ed expand access and flexibility to meet these growing healthcare workforce demands?
CSG: Institutions really need to rethink how they offer learning. We saw during COVID that even those resistant to online education were forced to adapt, and many have stayed, which speaks to its effectiveness. But it goes beyond modality. It’s about designing learning for today’s adult student. For example, competency-based education allows institutions to focus on what learners need to know and do. Instead of seat time, it’s about demonstrating real-world skills.
That flexibility is critical. Some learners need more structure, others want to move at their own pace—and both should be supported. When students can progress based on what they already know, they stay engaged and move forward more efficiently. Equally important is partnering with employers through advisory boards and education benefits to ensure learning stays aligned to workforce needs. Ultimately, expanding access means creating pathways that are flexible, relevant and immediately applicable on the job.
Evo: What does a truly workforce-aligned learning model for healthcare look like in practice?
CSG: It is about partnering with employers. You have to have that employer voice at the table when you’re developing programs and curricula. It starts with listening. What are employers seeing, what do they need, what do they wish their teams could do? From there, you combine that input with accreditation requirements and discipline standards, using backward program design to ensure what’s happening in the classroom reflects real job requirements. Students then progress by demonstrating mastery of those competencies.
But it doesn’t stop there. It’s a continuous feedback loop. You’re constantly evaluating how students are performing and what employers are saying to keep things aligned. And on the learner side, it’s about engaging with employers—understanding needed skills, leveraging tuition benefits and aligning education directly to career advancement.
Evo: What new models of collaboration between higher ed and healthcare employers will be most critical to fill talent gaps?
CSG: New collaboration models come down to embedding real-world application directly into learning, whether that’s projects in the classroom or programs aligned to specific roles. AI is also a big piece of this. We’re seeing that healthcare professionals aren’t worried about being replaced, but they are concerned about keeping up. In fact, many expect they’ll need to build AI-related skills in the next few years. It’s not an either/or. AI is a necessity. Institutions and employers need to work together to ensure learners understand how to use it effectively, ethically and in ways that translate immediately into their day-to-day work.
Evo: Is there anything you’d like to add?
CSG: If you’re interested in learning more, I’d encourage you to check out our healthcare workforce survey at healthcareworkforcesurvey.com. It offers great insight into what’s happening in the field—what professionals want to learn and how both institutions and employers can better support and retain them.
Photo caption: It is now imperative for institutions of higher education to reconcile workforce needs with student demands, delivering relevant, flexible, just-in-time education that fill knowledge and skill gaps.