‘An exciting time to do important things’: Brandeis launches plan to reinvent liberal arts education

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'An exciting time to do important things': Brandeis launches plan to reinvent liberal arts education

Washington, D.C., event details plan to fortify career paths for Brandeis grads, provide roadmap for other institutions.

By Steve Foskett
Photography by Dan Holmes
September 11, 2025

Brandeis University President Arthur Levine this week laid out a vision to reimagine what a liberal arts education can be by strengthening the connection between the durable skills it teaches and the careers that demand them.

The model, being developed and piloted by Brandeis in partnership with the powerhouse educational assessment firm ETS, includes intense career counseling, microcredentialing and a competency-based "second transcript." As it is implemented at Brandeis, it could ultimately serve as a template for other institutions looking to better align higher education with positive career outcomes for the modern graduate.

Levine outlined The Brandeis Plan to Reinvent the Liberal Arts this week during a forum with higher education and policy leaders at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Given the headwinds colleges face - demographic changes, outdated academic structures, less confidence in the value of a degree - the current moment requires embracing the challenge of remaking higher education for the global, digital, knowledge-based economy, he said. Part of leading the way to that future is better harnessing the liberal arts' greatest attributes, Levine said.

"We concluded it was time to reinvent the liberal arts rather than discarding them, because they're more essential now than they've ever been," Levine said.

The plan is backed by faculty and supported with a $25 million investment from the Brandeis Board of Trustees to expand internships and career pathways, support faculty in redesigning programs and degrees, and launch the Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts. It will infuse career readiness into every aspect of the student experience, Levine explained. From the day they arrive on campus, students will have access to a career counselor, along with technology to help them align competencies and microcredentials with their chosen career paths. They will graduate with a "second transcript" demonstrating skills employers value - everything from communications and writing skills to artificial intelligence fluency.

Levine's rollout of The Brandeis Plan included remarks from Sen. Ed Markey, and featured a panel discussion with Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS; Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, and Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Independent Colleges and a member of Brandeis Board of Trustees. The group weighed the potential impact of the Brandeis Plan across higher education, and agreed it's an approach that could reinvigorate the enterprise.

Mitchell, who served as under secretary of education in the Obama administration, said The Brandeis Plan brings a renewed sense of relevance to the liberal arts by re-centering education around what an educated person needs to know and needs to be able to do after they graduate.

"This will allow students and families to understand the ways in which that sociology course matters, the ways in which that political science course matters," Mitchell said.

Students will receive that guidance through Futurenav Compass, a GPS-style, AI-centric technology being piloted by ETS at Brandeis. The new tool will take students on a path from career inventory to career readiness, exploration and outcomes.

The Brandeis Plan will ensure that a liberal arts education remains a critical component of a forward-looking society.

During the Press Club forum, Sevak said The Brandeis Plan and its partnership with ETS will give students and parents a sense that the university is actually delivering on the promise of a college education, in a time when federal labor statistics show unemployment rates for people between the ages of 16 and 24 at a staggering 10.5% - more than double the overall national average. Additionally, Sevak noted, statistics indicate that 40% of today's college graduates are considered underemployed.

By becoming better attuned to the challenges and demands of today's jobs, Brandeis will reinforce higher education's role in workforce development without sacrificing academic rigor, Sevak added.

"It's building on the core of a liberal arts education," he said. "You've got this elite research institution, you've got this iconic liberal arts program, and now you're adding, you're layering in. It's not throwing out the research and throwing out the liberal arts. It's saying we can be both the research and liberal arts, and the career readiness."

Hass said Brandeis is uniquely well-positioned to carry this plan forward, given the university's core spirit of bringing its gifts to the world. As other institutions get in a defensive crouch, The Brandeis Plan is looking to the future.

"This is not growth by destruction," Hass said. "This is building and moving forward."

Rani Balakrishna '25 spoke at the event and talked about what she cherished about her time at Brandeis, but said she's excited to follow what's coming for future graduates. She said Brandeis students are willing to take big leaps to thrive and become distinctive, and should feel proud that their university is doing the same.

She said students leaving with a second transcript proving their competence and an entire portfolio of credentials will stand out as they navigate a job market that demands those skills.

"I think students in the future would be better served not by single courses that we choose, but by having opportunities to become fluent in using AI, building writing skills for a lifetime, or mastering research methods," Balakrishna said.

"Though the changes are big, the institution is still Brandeis."

Rani Balakrishna '25

Levine said higher education hasn't faced a moment like this since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, when institutions designed for the Middle Ages were caught flat-footed as the world moved on. The Brandeis Plan will ensure that a liberal arts education remains a critical component of a forward-looking society.

"We need to remake what we do to fit the world that we live in and the world that our students are going to live in," Levine said. "This is an exciting time to do important things."