Many higher education leaders—especially those focused on continuing education—are increasingly challenged by the disconnect between faculty expertise and rapidly evolving industry needs. As the demands of the workforce shift and new technologies emerge, institutions are under mounting pressure to offer upskilling programs and degree content that are truly relevant and current. However, a persistent issue is that traditional faculty, and even those responsible for developing continuing education products, may not be adequately exposed to industry challenges or recent developments on a consistent basis.
This gap complicates efforts to create up-to-date, skills-focused workforce education products and hinders the institution’s ability to demonstrate real-world value to learners and employers. As a result, many programs risk being misaligned to industry needs, and faculty may feel unprepared or lack confidence in designing offerings that effectively address new market requirements and professional standards. So what happens? They turn to their academic curriculum and begin to create “upskilling” products that end up missing market needs and thereby the market. Higher education institutions struggle to sell upskilling products for a variety of reasons, but one of the primary challenges is incorrect content for the target market.
At MODRN Education, where we focus specially on the development of workforce education, many of our clients worry about not having the bench strength in their faculty to be able to create the products necessary for the workforce. While many universities have hired subject matter experts to quickly get going on the development of upskilling products, long-term that doesn’t address the elephant in the room about the lack of connection to industry for many faculty members in higher education, and there are ways to start addressing this challenge now that will set your institution up for success now and for the foreseeable future. The following are some strategies and best practices designed to help faculty stay connected to industry—enabling them to develop robust, forward-thinking upskilling products and degree content that meet the needs of today’s students and workforce
Industry Advisory Councils
Industry advisory councils can serve as powerful mechanisms to connect faculty with real-time operations and current challenges faced by professionals in their fields. When leveraged effectively, these councils offer invaluable opportunities for faculty to hear firsthand about emerging trends, skills gaps, and technological changes, ensuring that curricular design and upskilling initiatives remain aligned with actual workplace needs. However, the impact of these councils is entirely dependent on how intentionally they are used. Far too often, advisory councils become an exercise in form over function—meeting only a couple of times a year, sharing a meal and conversation, but quickly losing momentum as members return to their daily routines. In these cases, recommendations rarely filter into course development, and the cycle of using the same academic content continues unchecked. This “checking the box” approach does little to advance innovation or maintain industry relevance within programs. It is essential for institutions to critically assess whether their advisory councils are genuinely driving curriculum decisions and program development, or if the gatherings have devolved into routine discussions with limited tangible outcomes. Honest reflection and an actionable mandate are necessary to transform industry advisory councils from symbolic gatherings into true engines for educational innovation and relevant faculty engagement.
Common Pitfalls:
Selecting the wrong members—such as retired industry professionals who no longer engage with current operations—can significantly limit the industry advisory council’s ability to provide actionable guidance. These members may lack awareness of new technologies, changing regulatory environments, and evolving workforce needs, resulting in outdated recommendations and a disconnect from present-day realities.
Including academic faculty as full members of industry advisory councils poses challenges as well. Faculty are meant to learn from council members, not serve as stand-ins for industry perspective. Unless a faculty member actively works in the field, their role should be focused on listening and integrating feedback, not shaping the council’s external advice.
Councils that meet only a few times a year, typically over lunch, often fail to offer meaningful input in curriculum development. These brief, infrequent interactions can create the illusion of industry involvement while missing the opportunity for deeper collaboration. When the council’s engagement is limited to periodic meetings and not embedded in the ongoing design or review process of upskilling products, it becomes a symbolic gesture instead of a strategic partnership—resulting in programs that may miss the mark before launch.
Best Practices:
If your school or institution already has an industry advisory council, as many do, ensure that you have the right team players for best results. We recently had a client refer to their industry advisory council as "fossils," describing the group of retired CEOs that no longer played an active role in their industry. She felt that they were doing more harm and than good, and she wasn't wrong.
Here are some membership types to consider...
Business Leaders - Business leaders are essential to industry advisory councils because they bring direct knowledge of current workplace operations, emerging industry trends, and employer needs—insights that help academic programs stay closely aligned with what companies value in new hires.
Alumni - Alumni add significant value by bridging institutional history with real-world perspective; their commitment to the university’s success, understanding of campus culture, and current roles in industry make them both passionate advocates and practical connectors.
Industry Regulators - Industry regulators play a crucial role, as regulatory changes often set the pace for required upskilling; their input ensures that programs address compliance needs and anticipate shifts that can quickly reshape the workforce.
Industry Subject Matter Experts - Industry subject matter experts provide up-to-date understanding of technical skill gaps, operational hurdles, and new technologies, allowing curricula to remain practical and forward-looking in preparing students for immediate and future industry demands.
Each group’s unique insights create a comprehensive, responsive council that can guide truly relevant educational innovation.
A best practice to overcome the pitfall of infrequent, superficial advisory council meetings is to deeply embed the council into the entire curriculum development and review process. Instead of meeting only 2-3 times per year over lunch, advisory council members should be engaged regularly throughout the design and iteration cycles of upskilling products. This can include co-leading working sessions, reviewing draft curricula and assessments, and providing timely feedback on prototypes before launch. Establishing clear roles for council members as active partners—not just occasional reviewers—ensures their expertise directly shapes educational content and validates the relevance of learning outcomes. Formalizing a process with scheduled touchpoints, accountability for recommendations, and documentation of impact prevents the council from becoming a symbolic checkbox and transforms it into a strategic engine for continuous innovation and alignment with industry needs.
Effective governance of industry advisory councils relies on several best practices. Establishing clear mandates—such as ensuring curriculum remains relevant to workforce needs and actively supporting job placement for graduates—gives the council purposeful direction and measurable goals. Periodically rotating membership is also critical, as it brings in fresh perspectives and helps keep the council’s guidance aligned with current sector trends and challenges. Finally, consistently tracking and reporting the outcomes of council recommendations reinforces accountability, demonstrates the council’s impact, and guides future efforts for continuous improvement. These steps collectively maximize the strategic value of the council and ensure it remains a dynamic influence on educational quality and alignment with industry needs.
Every academic school should have a mandatory industry advisory council because these councils serve as vital bridges between academia and the evolving demands of the workforce. This is critical to all of higher education, not just those who work in continuing education. A good industry advisory council can help to ensure that curriculum across all products and programs remains relevant by incorporating real-time industry insights, helping institutions rapidly adapt to technological advances, regulatory changes, and shifting employer needs. Beyond curriculum alignment, these councils strengthen institutional competitiveness and credibility by linking academic programs directly to employer expectations and market trends. Making industry advisory councils mandatory embeds continuous, structured industry engagement into academic governance, transforming education into a dynamic, responsive process that better prepares students for success in today’s fast-changing world.
Collaborations with Industry Associations
Working with industry associations offers universities an array of strategic benefits that go far beyond simple networking. Through these partnerships, faculty receive expert guidance on upskilling curriculum design and gain the opportunity to integrate industry certification content directly into both short courses and degree programs, ensuring students are prepared for real-world demands. Access to the association’s network also connects universities with a broad market of professionals actively seeking continuing education—opening new enrollment channels and increasing opportunities to market programs to an engaged audience. Joint marketing initiatives, collaborative research projects, and shared attendance at conferences further deepen these relationships and provide ongoing exposure to current trends and challenges. Most importantly, partnering with industry associations fosters a genuine, ongoing dialogue in which faculty and subject matter experts work side-by-side.
Working with industry associations provides faculty with direct and meaningful industry exposure by involving them in the collaborative development of upskilling products and educational offerings. When faculty and industry subject matter experts co-create these programs, faculty gain insights into real-time workforce needs, the skills in highest demand, and the operational challenges organizations currently face. This kind of partnership ensures that academic content is grounded in practical application, exposes faculty to emerging technologies and industry standards, and helps break down barriers between academic theory and day-to-day business realities. Through this collaborative process, faculty not only update their knowledge but also help build curricula and training solutions that are immediately relevant and valuable to both learners and employers. This true partnership keeps academic content relevant, grounded in practice, and ensures universities remain trusted leaders in preparing the next generation of industry-ready graduates.
Pitfalls:
Many higher education institutions report challenges in building partnerships with associations, often citing difficulty in gaining traction after initial outreach. A common issue arises when institutions assume the association will contribute time, expertise, or promotional support without compensation, overlooking the fact that most associations operate with limited staff and budgets. Without aligned resources or mutually beneficial terms, these collaborations stall, as associations simply cannot commit to unpaid work while maintaining their core member services.
Best Practices:
To create truly effective upskilling products, it’s essential to involve industry association subject matter experts alongside academic faculty. Their up-to-date expertise ensures the curriculum is current, practical, and directly aligned with industry standards—resulting in products that are relevant and immediately valuable for learners and employers.
Make this process a norm in the content development stage. Practically, collaboration between academic faculty and industry subject matter experts involves structured processes such as regular joint meetings to discuss progress and align goals, shared digital folders for transparent content development, and project management tools to track tasks and deadlines. Curriculum development is approached module by module, blending academic theory with current industry practices contributed by experts. Throughout the process, drafts are reviewed and refined collaboratively, culminating in a final approval stage where both academic and industry stakeholders validate the product’s accuracy and relevance before it launches. This integrated approach ensures continuous communication, accountability, and high-quality outcomes.
Attending Industry Conferences - Not Higher Education Conferences
It is crucial for higher education faculty to attend industry conferences to stay current with real-world practices, technologies, and employer expectations, which directly inform relevant curriculum design and upskilling programs. Despite this need, many faculty find themselves attending, or being sent to, higher education conferences instead. These academic gatherings, while beneficial for pedagogical networking and scholarly exchange, often lack exposure to evolving workplace trends and operational challenges. Focusing faculty professional development on industry conferences can bridge the gap between theory and practice, helping academic programs remain responsive to workforce changes and better preparing students for success beyond graduation. Many higher education leaders, especially those focused on continuing education, struggle with faculty who are disconnected from industry realities, making it difficult to create upskilling programs that feature the most current and relevant content. This challenge also affects traditional degree programs, where faculty may not be consistently exposed to the latest industry changes and workplace needs. As a result, institutions risk developing curricula and products that lag behind market demands, leaving students underprepared and academic offerings less competitive.
Encouraging and providing funding for faculty to attend industry conferences rather than limiting them to academic events and conferences can be transformative for universities. These conferences provide valuable opportunities for upskilling, networking, and staying current with industry trends. Institutions can strengthen this effort by offering targeted funding for registration, travel, and materials, making such attendance a regular part of professional development. Faculty should be motivated to participate fully by joining practical workshops, engaging in roundtable discussions, networking with industry professionals and looking for partnership opportunities or student internship opportunities. When they return, sharing insights through new curriculum development and student events helps translate industry knowledge into updated coursework, upskilling, and institutional learning.
Funding Continuing Education for Faculty
Funding and supporting faculty continuing education is critical, as ongoing professional development in their field is often overlooked in higher education despite being required in many other fields. Conducting academic research and publishing in journals can be helpful, but in many cases does little to immerse faculty in industry challenges and changes across the spectrum. Universities should be budgeting for the costs of short courses, advanced certifications, and industry-focused sabbaticals. Partnering with industry organizations and certification bodies for discounted or exclusive faculty learning opportunities on emerging technologies and best practices further enhances faculty skillsets. By linking participation in continuing education to faculty evaluations and promotions, institutions clearly signal that upskilling is both expected and valued, strengthening academic excellence and program relevance.
Hiring Industry-Active Adjuncts
Employing adjunct faculty who are actively working in their professions brings significant advantages over relying solely on tenured faculty who may not be engaged with current industry practices. Adjuncts serve as direct conduits for the latest industry knowledge, bringing current tools, challenges, and regulatory developments straight into the classroom. They use their professional networks to create real-world project, internship, and research opportunities for students, making learning more practical and career-focused. Additionally, involving adjuncts in curriculum development enables academic programs to more easily adapt to shifting workforce demands and industry standards.
Providing Up-to-Date Industry Data
Universities should invest in gathering and sharing comprehensive industry data at least once a year, making it available to all faculty to inspire the creation of new upskilling products, prompt updates to existing ones, and ensure degree programs stay current. Supplying faculty with fresh, actionable information on industry trends—sourced from local, state, and national levels—keeps them attuned to changing employer needs, emerging technologies, and economic shifts relevant to their teaching. Regularly distributing such reports from sources like state labor departments, industry associations, and respected research and consulting organizations helps align academic content with real workforce demands. Incorporating this data into faculty development sessions fosters meaningful discussion about curriculum changes and partnership opportunities. When paired with ongoing advisory council feedback, this practice creates a dynamic, real-time feedback loop, strengthening the relevance and responsiveness of all university programs.
Time for a Change
At a time of unprecedented change in workplace expectations and technology, connecting university faculty with industry subject matter experts is critical for institutional excellence. Through advisory councils, association collaborations, conference attendance, continuing education, and industry-active adjuncts, higher education institutions can ensure their programs remain relevant, impactful, and forward-thinking. This strategic alignment not only benefits students but also supports faculty professional growth and strengthens partnerships with industry for mutual advancement.
Key Takeaways