The career ecosystem of u.s. universities in ensuring accessible career support for students

Abstract

This article substantiates an ecosystem approach to analysing career support in higher education and clarifies the concept of a university career ecosystem. The study aims to describe its structural components and to identify the mechanisms through which U.S. universities ensure the accessibility of career support for students. The methodology combines analysis of scholarly and policy sources with content analysis of publicly available materials from university career centres. A purposive set of cases (Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, University of California, Berkeley, and Florida State University) illustrates different institutional configurations and supports analytical generalisation.The findings show that a university career ecosystem is a coherent system of actors, institutional units, digital resources and partnership practices that together create conditions for students’ career readiness and access to support. Five core components are identified: the student (needs, intentions, competencies and career identity); the career service as an integrating coordinator; digital infrastructure (platforms and tools for personalised communication); the educational environment (curricula and experiential learning); and employers/the labour market (internships, job shadowing, mentoring and networking). Accessibility is operationalised through four interrelated mechanisms: informational, organisational, digital and social-partnership. Personalisation is interpreted as a system-forming principle that aligns an individual student profile with relevant services, learning opportunities and labour-market connections, rather than as a purely algorithmic function. The article outlines implications for Ukrainian universities, emphasising the transition from isolated career counselling initiatives to an ecosystem model based on cross-unit coordination, digital support and sustainable partnerships with employers and alumni.

Keywords: university careereco system; U.S. universities; career support; accessibility; personalization; career readiness; students.