Virginia will face a workforce shortage in 2026 that cannot be resolved by doing business as usual. The region’s hospitals are facing some of the most high nursing vacancy rates. teacher shortages continue to strain classrooms, accelerating burnout and affecting school divisions from Hampton Roads to Southwest Virginia. Employers in the Commonwealth have a hard time filling positions related to technology, cyber security, and business operations.
Virginia’s economy is affected by these challenges in every sector. These challenges affect the speed at which patients can be seen by doctors, how many students teachers must support, and how well our communities are prepared for new industries. These facts also show us that we cannot ignore the fact that we will never be able to meet Virginia’s workforce requirements by relying on the traditional pipeline made up of high school graduates. We need flexible, statewide pathways based on skills for the thousands of adults who already live and work in Virginia.
The future of higher education is at a crossroads. The competitive model, which rewards enrollment victories and institutional prestige, was not designed for the workforce of today. It is characterized by retraining in mid-career and upskilling. The gap between talent and opportunities is growing in many rural communities. This gap cannot be closed by a single institution.
Employers, community colleges, and training providers in Virginia are already testing new approaches to closing the gap. models modeled after residency are being launched by healthcare systems to help LPNs who are already working become RNs. School divisions are building paraprofessional-to-teacher pipelines in response to ongoing vacancies. Cybersecurity employers have shifted to skills-based hiring, and are looking for candidates who hold industry certifications instead of traditional time-based degrees. These efforts indicate the direction that we need to go: more alignment and less fragmentation.
This collaborative attitude is what attracted me to my work. I grew in rural America, where opportunities were scarce for students like myself. I still see these same barriers in Virginia today. Education became my path out of poverty and to success. This is why I am so committed to building systems that allow people already in the country, who just need time, a chance and a clear pathway, to advance.
Collaboration is not just a nice thing to do in Virginia. It’s the only way to meet the workforce demands. We can create real mobility when community colleges, four year institutions, employers and training partners collaborate together, rather than working in parallel. LPNs can more easily move into RN roles, paraprofessionals can become licensed educators without having to leave the classroom, IT workers can gain the skills needed to enter cybersecurity without having to start over. If we want working adults to see advancement as a real possibility, higher education must keep pace with employers.
These partnerships are real. These partnerships are already underway in Southwest Virginia, Northern Virginia, and the Tidewater area. They require consistency, shared credit structures, employer tuition assistance, and pathways that recognize skill, not just time spent in class. Higher education leaders must also rethink the way they measure success. The goal should be to ensure that students are prepared for the workplace and have a long-term impact on their communities.
Virginia’s future chapter in higher education is written by those who are willing to break down long-standing silos. It is time to focus on credit transfer agreements which actually transfer. To scale up employer-education partnerships to remove financial barriers to working adults. And to make skills-based education the norm, not the exception.
Virginia’s workforce can be strengthened by collaborating instead of competing. This will benefit all the people in the Commonwealth and not just those who have had easy access to opportunities.
The article University official says Virginia’s new higher education chapter should be collaborative and not competitive first appeared on Cardinal News.
