Higher education is at an inflection point — because the economy is at an inflection point. The World Economic Forum reports that 44% of the skills that employees rely on today will be disrupted within the next five years. As in-demand skills evolve, learners seek more flexible, career-aligned education pathways. Traditional degree programs remain essential, but they no longer represent the only way that individuals acquire skills. The rise of upskilling, reskilling, and alternative credentialing has created an urgent need for institutions to adapt.
To stay competitive and relevant, higher education institutions must bridge the gap between what they offer and what employers demand. This challenge — and opportunity — is the driving force behind Ellucian Journey.
Responding to Changing Educational and Workforce Landscapes
At Ellucian, we have been watching the significant growth of the continuing education and upskilling market, but we noticed that higher education institutions were not always positioned to take full advantage. Learners have increasingly turned to alternative online education providers like massive open online course (MOOC) and bootcamp platforms for quick, low-friction learning opportunities. As a result, many institutions risk missing the opportunity to establish themselves as the go-to lifelong learning partner for their students and alumni. On the other hand, many of these same students sought additional academic offerings and credentials from their alma maters, but they found institutions were not offering the courses these loyal leaners were seeking.
We built Journey to help institutions change that dynamic. Our vision is to provide a lifelong learning solution that allows institutions to seamlessly connect their Continuing Education (CE) and Workforce Development (WFD) curriculum to labor market needs, ensuring they remain competitive in the evolving education landscape. By leveraging AI-driven skills mapping, Journey enables institutions to:
- Align academic offerings with real-time labor market demands.
- Provide learners with personalized skill-building pathways.
- Expand CE/WFD programs to attract more students and generate sustainable revenue.
A Data-Driven, AI-Powered Approach
At the core of Journey is a powerful artificial intelligent system that leverages Large Language Models (LLM) to extract skills data from academic programs, mapping those skills to workforce needs. With insights from labor market data sources, Journey helps institutions to implement a modern, skills-based curriculum, optimize educational offerings to meet in-demand skills, and provide students with clear pathways to their career goals.
This is particularly critical for learners who may not follow a traditional academic path. We developed Journey with these learners in mind: professionals looking to upskill for promotions, career changers exploring new fields, and knowledge-hungry students who need guidance in finding their direction all benefit from a system that helps them make informed decisions about their education and career path.
Partnering with Higher Education to Shape Innovation
We did not develop Journey in isolation. From the beginning, we engaged directly with higher education leaders and institutions to ensure the solution met real-world needs. Institutions like The George Washington University, Texas Southern University, and Wake Technical Community College played key roles in providing feedback, shaping the product roadmap, and identifying priorities. These design and development partnerships helped us build a platform that is both institution-friendly and learner-focused.
One of the most exciting aspects of Journey is its ability to integrate seamlessly with the broader Ellucian ecosystem. By connecting with Ellucian's Student Information System, Journey fits naturally into your institution's existing infrastructure, making it easier to implement and scale course selection, registration, and payment in a single experience.
The Future of Lifelong Learning
As institutions navigate enrollment challenges, funding shortfalls, shifting workforce demands, and increasing competition from non-academic education providers, solutions like Journey will be essential. Higher education has a powerful opportunity to redefine itself as the hub for all degree and non-degree based lifelong skill development, and we aim to provide the technology to act on that opportunity.
Ellucian Journey is more than just an innovation. It is part of our larger mission to modernize higher education and support institutions in driving student success, engagement, and career readiness. By embracing AI-driven learning pathways, institutions can ensure they remain central to the emerging education ecosystem.
To explore how Ellucian Journey can help your institution expand its lifelong learning programs, register now for the webinar.
Lifelong Learning Terms to Know
Lifelong Learning: The continuous pursuit of knowledge and skills throughout one’s lifetime, whether formal or informal, personal or professional; the idea that education knows the beginning or end point.
Stackable credentials: Modular educational pathways where certificates and degrees build upon prior learning allowing students flexible entry and exit points while ensuring all earned credits contribute toward advancing to higher-level credentials.
Skills taxonomy: Comprehensive, standardized classification systems that organize workplace competencies and technical skills to enable precise curriculum mapping, career pathway development, and alignment between educational outcomes and employer needs.
Labor market intelligence: Real-time data analytics combining job posting trends, salary information, skill demand forecasting, and regional economic indicators to inform educational programming and career pathway recommendations.
Microcredentials: Focused, competency-based certifications that validate specific skills or knowledge areas through assessment, typically completed in shorter timeframes than traditional degrees and often offered in digital badge format.
Competency-based education (CBE): Learning model where students advance upon demonstrating mastery of clearly defined skills and knowledge rather than completing seat-time requirements, allowing for personalized pacing and flexible scheduling.
AI-powered recommendations: Machine learning algorithms that analyze learner data, career goals, employment history, and market trends to suggest personalized course selections, skill development priorities, and career pathway options.
Gamification: Strategic application of game design elements—including progress tracking, achievement badges, leaderboards, and reward systems—to increase learner motivation, engagement, and course completion rates.
Personalized learning pathways: Adaptive educational routes that customize content, pacing, and delivery methods based on individual learning preferences, career objectives, prior experience, and skill assessment results.
Upskilling: Professional development focused on expanding employees' current skill sets to meet evolving job requirements, advance in their current career track, or adapt to technological changes within their field.
Reskilling: Comprehensive training programs designed to help workers transition to entirely different roles or industries by developing new foundational skills and competencies.
Industry partnerships: Strategic collaborations between educational institutions and employers involving curriculum co-design, internship programs, advisory board participation, and direct feedback loops to ensure academic programming meets current workforce demands.
Apprenticeship: Structured training program that integrates work-based learning with traditional coursework; often developed in collaboration with local employers to ensure skills learned via in-class instruction meet the demands of the job.
Workforce development: a) Supporting learners in developing the skills needed to stand out in the workforce and/or b) empowering employers to invest in training and development activities to augment the skillsets of their employees, something often referred to as employer-sponsored training.
Dual enrollment: A program that permits high school students to take college classes, earning credit for both high school and college concurrently.
Continuing education: Refers to any learning or training post-formal education system; typically refers to non-degree coursework, for personal or professional purposes.
