Op-Ed | Reimagining our campuses to lead our students into careers

Whenever I speak to CUNY students and alumni, I’m impressed by their ambition, perseverance and achievement. They are hungry to graduate and begin their careers. And as educators, our job is to make sure that their degrees lead to a better future.

That’s why we’re launching CUNY Beyond, a five-year initiative to ensure that every student graduates not just with a diploma but with the direction, preparation, connections and career skills they need for real-world success in today’s rapidly changing economy.

We’re reimagining the core goal of a college campus — from an institution focused on graduation rates alone, to one that looks beyond and with it, we’re tossing aside the outdated notion that “career development” is separate from a student’s academic journey, or something to think about only in junior or senior year. We will make career exploration, gaining practical experience and building connections central to every undergraduate college experience.

CUNY Beyond begins where students already are — in the classroom. Rather than waiting for them to visit our fantastic career centers or go to a job fair, we’re bringing career touchpoints to them — embedding career connections in their coursework, advising, orientations and everyday college experience.

Our dedicated faculty are at the heart of this work. Through our growing CUNY Career Success Fellows program, 125 faculty across disciplines have been integrating career-connected learning into their courses and helping colleagues on their campuses follow their lead .

The results are clear. Students in departments with dedicated industry specialists land jobs related to their major at three times the rate of other graduates. And students who complete paid internships or apprenticeships are three times more likely to receive job offers at graduation — and at higher starting salaries.

CUNY Beyond will scale these and other proven strategies across the university, supported by our philanthropic and employer partners. We’re grateful to Robin Hood, one of our key supporters, for a $2 million grant that is helping launch the initiative. We will also be kicking off a new campaign developed with industry, “Power Your Business with CUNY,” to invite companies across New York to join us in connecting their talent needs with our students’ potential.

The first wave of CUNY Beyond is underway at Lehman College, LaGuardia Community College, Hunter College and Borough of Manhattan Community College. Eventually, each CUNY undergraduate campus will be part of it.

We estimate that this plan will generate $3.3 billion in future wage growth for our students and $700 million in public return through higher earnings and economic mobility.

That’s good news, but CUNY Beyond is more than an economic strategy. It’s a new way of defining the value of college — preparing our students not only for careers but for belonging: in the workforce, in the economy, in the future.

Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of The City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban public university system in the United States.