In the Gallup research titled “Great Jobs, Great Lives,” they use survey data across 30 years and over 30,000 college graduate survey participants to assess the elements that best predict workforce engagement. The overarching theme of this work goes beyond workforce engagement and addresses employee well-being and how important workforce participation is to personal well-being. Workforce engagement is critically important as only 39% of college graduates are actively engaged, 49% not engaged, and 12% actively disengaged in their workplace.
So what can Universities, Business Schools, and Real Estate Programs do to create actively engaged workers? Gallup identifies the following important inputs:
- A professor who cares about students and get them excited about learning and pursing their dreams
- Internships where students are able to apply what they are learning in the classroom
- Being actively involved in co-curricular activities and organizations
- Projects that take a semester or longer to complete
- Feeling supported and having deep learning experiences
So how does the Real Estate Program measure up against these inputs. First, Bill Camp (who teaches Real Estate Finance) and Greg Reed (who teaches The Real Estate Process) require students to meet with them individually or in groups of two or three to learn about and foster their students’ dreams. The undergraduate real estate major pushed core real estate curriculum into the freshman and sophomore years so that students can secure sophomore summer and junior summer internships. Expanded WREAA-supported field trips and an active Real Estate Club and Women in Real Estate organizations engage student minds and apply the knowledge. Additionally, the recently approved Real Estate Private Equity Club is planning an annual case competition engaging students in club activities and applying student knowledge.
As for semester-long or longer programming, we have the Applied Real Estate Investment Track (AREIT) and Real Estate Private Equity Track that span three semesters and require students to put forth thoughtful real estate analysis processes and populate those processes with relevant, market-focused inputs. As you know there are few, if any, silver bullet solutions to problems in the built environment. Finally, and not so humbly, here is no other program, graduate or undergraduate that provides deeper learning experiences in real estate and urban land economics than those provided by the Wisconsin Real Estate Program.
Forward!
Mark Eppli, Graasksamp Center Director