The QA Commons is mindful of the dramatic and transformational impact COVID-19 is having on all institutions of higher education. As an organization, we are adapting our services to support preparing graduates for the workplace that is now changing more precipitously than ever.
One of the most interesting things about the Essential Employability Qualities Certification (EEQ CERT) process is that we learn something new from every cohort of programs we review. The framework is the same. The standards are the same. But each discipline reveals different ways that employability actually develops inside a curriculum. Our recent collaboration with the American Historical Association was a perfect example.
Over the past two years, QA Commons has worked with 14 history programs across 11 states to review how their curricula cultivate the skills students need to succeed in the workplace. As expected, we saw something history programs are famous for: deep development of critical thinking. Students regularly practice evaluating evidence, synthesizing conflicting information, identifying bias, and building defensible conclusions. These are exactly the kinds of analytical skills employers say they struggle to find. But the most interesting insights were the ones we didn’t expect.
The hidden industry knowledge inside history programs
One surprise was how much industry-relevant knowledge actually exists in history curricula. Depending on the courses students take, they may graduate with substantial foundational understanding of sectors like:
Yet almost no one talks about this.
A student who studies Cold War diplomacy, the history of financial crises, environmental regulation, or media history is not just learning about the past—they are building context for industries that still shape our world today. In many cases, history students know far more about these systems than they realize. The challenge is translation.
Digital skills are already showing up
Another surprise: many history programs are doing more digital work than people assume. We saw students:
Digital literacy is not something being added artificially to the curriculum. In many cases, it is already there—just embedded in disciplinary practice.
The faculty are remarkable
We also had the chance to spend real time with history faculty across the country. They are, without exaggeration, some of the most curious and engaging educators we’ve encountered.
More importantly, they care deeply about their students. Many are already helping students think about how their work connects to careers. What the EEQ CERT process often does is simply provide a structure—and language—that helps make those connections clearer. When faculty see how their assignments map to skills like communication, teamwork, ethical judgment, and problem-solving, something interesting happens. They get excited. Not because they suddenly want to turn history departments into job training programs, but because they realize their teaching is already preparing students for the real world in powerful ways.
A translation problem, not a training problem
One of the clearest lessons from this project is that the perceived “employability gap” is often a matter of translation. History programs already cultivate many of the skills employers say they want—critical thinking, communication, judgment, and the ability to navigate ambiguity. But students don’t always know how to articulate those skills. And employers don’t always know how to recognize them. That’s where making employability visible—through curriculum review, faculty engagement, and student skills badges—can help.
And the timing couldn’t be more interesting
What made this project especially striking is how closely it aligns with current conversations about the future of work. Across industries, reports from LinkedIn, McKinsey, the World Economic Forum, and others are emphasizing the growing importance of distinctly human capabilities: judgment, communication, adaptability, and the ability to navigate complexity in an AI-driven world. In other words, the very things history programs already teach.
There’s a growing recognition that while technical skills evolve quickly, durable human capabilities drive long-term career mobility. History programs have been developing those capabilities all along.
What we take away from each cohort
Every EEQ CERT cohort reveals something new.
In engineering programs, we see teamwork and complex problem-solving embedded in technical work. In arts programs, creativity, critique, and presentation come to the forefront. And in history programs, we see how deeply students learn to interpret evidence, think ethically, communicate clearly, and understand complex systems.
Of course, the process also surfaces opportunities for improvement—stronger employer and alumni engagement, assignments that challenge students to communicate more clearly, or internship experiences that could be expanded. The work is not about changing disciplines or questioning the value of higher education. The value is real. But there is often untapped opportunity to make it more visible and more intentional. When that happens, students are better able to connect what they are learning to real opportunity after graduation.
Thank you to Lumina Foundation for supporting this work and to all of our participating history programs and their faculty for their openness, curiosity, and generosity in sharing their work.
Enter your email below to follow this project and receive notifications.
We appreciate you contacting us. One of our colleagues will get back to you shortly.
