This summer, LinkedIn, the social media platform beloved by many professionals (albeit disliked by anyone annoyed by incessant emails), is taking part in a striking little experiment in Colorado.
This initiative does not aspire to connect ambitious MBA students with exciting jobs or link the alumni of elite colleges. Instead, LinkedIn, in tandem with non-governmental groups such as the Markle Foundation, a technology-focused charity, is connecting employers who need skilled and semi-skilled workers with local community colleges. The hope is that this will help colleges and students see where jobs are being created — and thus work with companies to create the right college courses to deliver training.
Or to put it another way, instead of using the power of digital connections to help people find jobs, LinkedIn is going a step back — using cyber platforms to enable colleges to train students in the best way.
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But, in reality, state institutions tend to be too stodgy and slow-moving to reform education in any meaningful way, particularly given the speed at which digitisation is changing the economy. And while some companies are still running effective apprenticeship and training schemes, this tends to occur in an ad hoc way in places such as the US.