Last several years of higher education have seen a new generation of students enter their college-going years. This is the so-called Generation Z, also known as Centennials or Zoomers, those born sometime in the mid-1990s through to 2012, and like many generations before them, they have their unique characteristics and expectations. A diverse generation of technology natives that grew up in an era with numerous social issues, like school shooting, the BLM movement, and legalization of gay marriage, Generation Z pursues to make changes in our society. The question is: how will they influence the entire higher education system?
Like Millennials, Gen Z learners grew up in the times of a technological revolution, in the context of the internet and social networks. They are individuals who connect naturally to the virtual world and consider that part of their community. They are independent, self-taught and multitasking. According to Seemiller and Grace, they consider themselves loyal, thoughtful, compassionate, open-minded, and responsible. At the same time, they prefer to work alone and confess that they occasionally lack creativity.
Accustomed as they are to always stay connected and get answers to their questions immediately on Google, Zoomers value knowledge just as they value information. They seek constant information and entertainment in YouTube videos much as previous generations read magazines or watched TV. They are used to customization; and the culture of instant communication of texting and status updates means they expect faster feedback from everyone, on everything.
There are many reasons to believe that Generation Z students are going to become the most educated generation. They have higher high school graduation rates and lower dropout rates than those who came before them. In 2018, 57 per cent of 18 to 21-year olds were in college, compared with 52 per cent of Millennials, and 43 per cent of Gen Xers at similar ages.
However, unlike many previous generations of high school seniors, Gen Z learners are not so sure that obtaining a degree is a worthwhile investment. Instead, a different mindset is now prevailing. Gen Zers are more skeptical of higher education, as they want proof that pursuing a degree will be worth it in the long run. Besides, with so many institutions and courses offered both offline and online, students are in a position to have an incredibly large array of choices. This means schools will have to adjust both their programmes and teaching strategies to meet the expectations of today’s students.
Attitudes have definitely changed. Focused on value, Zoomers attach great importance to their choice of major. If earlier, students felt they could take their time to figure out what they wanted to do for a living (even if that meant pursuing a job opportunity that was entirely unrelated to their major), the enw generation is primarily focused on programmes pointing toward a specific career path. They tend to make their choice of higher education based on their passion, but make sure the graduation provides access to the career that interests them and rewards them financially. In general, their number one concern related to education is whether or not they will be able to find a good and well-paid job after graduation. Gen Zers are interested in practical subjects with clear paths to successful careers.
A shift toward practically-oriented majors results in fewer students in the humanities and arts, but more learners preferring health professions, computer science and video game development, engineering, biological science, among other fields. Whatever the major, programmes in higher education institutions today are more career-focused than ever. According to a survey conducted by ECMC Group and VICE Media, 74 per cent of polled high school students say they think only education that focuses on developing hard skills makes sense.
However, an interesting finding of the survey, applied by Dell Technologies to 12,000 high school and university students around the world, reveals that Gen Zers are unsure about their non-tech skills. 52 per cent commented that confident as they are about the technical skills they possess, they still worry about not having the right soft skills and experience for the workforce. Therefore, GenZ students express the need to develop such competencies as critical thinking, logical thinking, and decision-making, and expect schools to teach them how to learn, not just what to learn.
But even with these statistics in mind, the role of technology is central for Gen Z. While most Millennials remember a time when digital technology was not integral to our daily lives, Zoomers do not recall life before Internet. They have grown up with the digital world embedded in their daily activities, and digital media has become essential to their experience of the world and their expression of themselves.
The new generation of students is the first generation of true digital natives, coming of age with technological advances and mobile devices like the smartphones (indeed, 97 per centt of Gen Zers own smartphones, according to Nielsen research). As Gen Z individuals expect on-demand services that are available at any time, they naturally want to access everything, from campus maps to course materials, using their mobile devices. Higher education institutions respond by releasing simple, user-friendly mobile apps developed to be on the same page with the new generation of learners.
Being the first generation of incredibly tech-savvy individuals to attend college, Gen Zers expect the latest technology to be incorporated into their classroom experiences as well. This is confirmed by the report from Barnes & Noble College that discovers these learners crave interactive experiences and see a lot of value in tools like digital textbooks, online videos and game-based learning.
In the meantime, students of Generation Z are not inclined to spend money on expensive campus frills. Despite the economic recovery of the past decade, many of the young people can remember their parents living through the recession, and the issue of financial security continues to weigh on their minds.
This generation is particularly wary of how much it costs to obtain a degree and more willing to question the value of a degree and look for alternatives. More and more young people are not so sure a traditional four-year programme is what they need and whether or not it is worth the investment. While freshman college enrollment dropped by 16 per cent, matriculation in short-term credential classes over the last year increased by 70 per cent to nearly 8 million over the same period last year.
In fact, since Gen Zers have learned through digital technologies, rather than traditional learning such as classroom learning, and much of their previous learning experience comes from the internet, they are quite confident that they can learn from non-traditional sources and succeed. An ever-increasing number or Generation Z individuals do not see “traditional higher education” as a necessary ingredient for a successful career. Many of them see their business idea as a better return on investment than a college or university education. They consider skipping college altogether and joining a workforce instead, expecting to learn from peers on the job, or starting their career as entrepreneurs. The research shows that more than one-third of Gen Z students either already have their own business or plan to have one in the future.