According to Kimberly van Noort, chancellor of UNC Asheville, roughly 65 percent of UNC Asheville students want to remain in Asheville for at least the first year after graduation, a statistic she says has major implications for both the university and the regional economy.

“They need jobs,” she said. “And we want to make sure that they are well positioned, but we also want to make sure that we are playing the role that we need to be playing in the development and the enhancement of the local economy.”

The university has reevaluated its academic portfolio with a sharper focus on workforce development, regional industry partnerships, and career readiness. Van Noort pointed to healthcare, tourism, advanced manufacturing, technology, environmental sciences, and the arts as key sectors for deepening engagement.

Among the initiatives underway are plans for a new school of business, a proposed data science degree, expanded career-readiness programming across all academic departments, and a broader push toward what van Noort calls a “technology infused, but human centered, campus.”

“We know that our students will be expected to engage with technology when they leave the university,” she said. “We want them to be proficient, to be fluent in different types of technology, but also have the critical ability to evaluate those technologies, select appropriate technologies, integrate them, and also understand the ethical human use of those technologies.”

The university’s approach reflects a larger evolution occurring throughout higher education as institutions increasingly seek to connect liberal arts education with workforce outcomes and economic development.

“Everything that we do really needs to be focused on how we are building those connections: physical connections, economic connections, educational connections, service connections, community connections.”

Van Noort said businesses consistently emphasize a set of “durable skills” when speaking with university leaders: skills like communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and the ability to synthesize information into actionable decision-making.

Those conversations are shaping curriculum decisions. UNC Asheville’s proposed data science degree, for example, is designed not simply around collecting and managing data, but around helping students interpret and apply it in practical settings.

The university is also centralizing internships and employer outreach through its career center. Currently, approximately 67 percent of students complete at least one internship before graduating. Van Noort said the university wants that figure closer to 75 percent.

“We have now centralized all of our internships in our career center,” she said. “We have a much more deliberate approach now to both the cultivation of internships in the community.”

The university is also working to expose students to career pathways they may not realize exist.

“A lot of times, students don't know what's out there,” van Noort said. “There are so many other careers out there that our students just aren't aware of. And so many employers out there don't understand a lot about what our students are doing and the skills they're developing.”

While workforce alignment is becoming increasingly important, van Noort pushed back against the idea that liberal arts education and practical career preparation are at odds.

“Liberal arts is not about any particular academic discipline,” she said. “It is a way of approaching learning and teaching and being.”

The university also sees opportunities in more specialized or emerging sectors. UNC Asheville’s atmospheric sciences program, one of relatively few in the country, is expanding partnerships connected to weather modeling, environmental resilience, and decision-making. The university recently launched a new astronomy program as well.

“We have to do both,” van Noort said, referring to supporting both legacy industries and emerging niches. “Where are some niche areas that are of interest regionally, but also can give us a national profile and bring attention to the region?”

Van Noort also framed higher education itself as an industry undergoing major disruption nationally. She referenced what many institutions call the “demographic cliff”—a decline in the number of traditional college-aged students tied to falling birth rates following the Great Recession.

“There are far fewer 18 year olds today than there were five years ago,” she said. “And that is going to continue.”

At the same time, institutions nationwide are facing growing scrutiny over affordability and return on investment.

“We know there is tremendous value in a bachelor's degree,” van Noort said. “However, I think that there are lots of different narratives out there right now which are casting doubt upon that. And so it is our responsibility not just to say, ‘Oh, that's not true.’ We have to show it.”

Part of that effort involves physically and culturally opening the university to the surrounding community. Van Noort pointed to ongoing discussions around UNC Asheville’s millennial campus development as one example of creating stronger integration between the university and Asheville itself.

“Our university is a little bit walled off,” she said. “We don't have great connections physically to the surrounding areas, and we need to think of ways to make that a much more permeable and much more productive interface.”

For van Noort, those stronger ties benefit both students and businesses.

“We don't just learn from ourselves,” she said. “We learn from others, and especially we learn from others who are outside of our normal environment.”

As Western North Carolina continues rebuilding and redefining itself following Hurricane Helene, van Noort said UNC Asheville wants to be part of shaping what comes next. Van Noort wants business owners to call up the university with their questions, their problems, and their ideas. 

“I think the region is going to, and the businesses are going to, emerge stronger than ever,” she said. “And we want to be part of that.”

Learn more at go.unca.edu.