Presentation to look at future of workforce

An American Emeritus Professor will address staff and students regarding the future of the worldwide workforce through a special colloquium at USQ tomorrow (Friday 5 October 2007).

Professor Earl Hunt, who is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, will visit USQ to deliver his presentation The Economics of Intelligence on the issues facing the contemporary workforce and the skills that employers were looking for from high school graduates.

'Professor Hunt is a very highly qualified person, who has worked at universities such as Yale, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Sydney,' USQ psychology Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) Gerry Fogarty said.

'His main area of interest is the challenges that face the modern workforce and whether people will have the skills needed to compete in a global economy.

'This presentation will attempt to show what the required skills are and the extent to which our educational system is delivering them.'

An international study, which Professor Hunt helped co-ordinate, looked at the skills set of high school graduates and then analysed the cognitive skills required for 800 different jobs.

They found that an emphasis was placed on basic skills such as general intelligence, linguistic and perceptual-motor skills rather than job-specific skills.

USQ is not the only stop on Professor Hunt's visit to Australia, with the American academic already taking part in the 42nd Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society last month.

'He was one of three keynote speakers at the Annual Conference, which was held in Brisbane from September 25-29,' Professor Fogarty said.

'I know him personally as I once had study leave with him at the University of Washington so he agreed to present this colloquium at USQ.'

Professor Hunt's presentation will be held at 1pm in R113 at USQ. Media are welcome to attend.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, +61 7 4631 2977