As we step into 2025, the world of technical education is poised for significant transformation. Each year, The TechEd Podcast takes a deep dive into the trends shaping STEM and technical education. This year, the predictions are more exciting than ever. Here’s a look at the 13 trends that will impact tech ed in 2025:
Driven by supply chain challenges and national priorities, manufacturing in 2025 will continue to move closer to the point of consumption. The ongoing impact of the CHIPS and Science Act and a renewed focus on domestic manufacturing has prompted substantial investments in U.S.-based facilities. We’ve already seen significant reshoring projects in semiconductor manufacturing, and this trend is expected to intensify. Senator Todd Young, co-author of CHIPS, spoke at length about this trend on The TechEd Podcast.
In 2024, Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute published a report that estimates 1.9 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2033. Harry Moser, founder of The Reshoring Initiative, proposes that number could be much higher as manufacturing reshores to the United States.
Source: 2024 Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute Talent Study
What educators should do: Keep an eye on the reshoring trend. Though some of the following predictions suggest that manufacturing job openings might waver in 2025, the long-term impact of reshoring will require millions of skilled workers. Continue to build your technical training programs so there will be a workforce ready for the influx of jobs.
Tariffs—or even the threat of them—will influence manufacturing and supply chains. As the new administration comes into power, tariffs as high as 25% could be implemented on imports from countries like China, Canada and Mexico, substantially impacting production costs. These measures, while controversial, are likely to accelerate domestic production as companies aim to mitigate costs.
What educators should do: While this prediction is directed toward manufacturers, educators should also keep an eye on the impact of tariffs on industry and workforce needs.
The first half of 2025 is expected to spotlight a contracting manufacturing economy. Indicators like the Institute for Supply Chain Management’s PMI index have shown consistent contraction in the industry over the last few months. As you’ll see in the chart below, any number below 50 is a contraction in manufacturing. November 2024 saw a PMI of 48.4, and December 2024 say a PMI of 49.3, signaling sustained contraction.
Source: December 2024 Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business
What educators should do: This downturn will have ripple effects across technical education. Expect shifts in workforce demands, and prepare your Business and Industry departments to have rapid reskilling programs available.
Economic challenges may lead to workforce reductions in manufacturing. As we’ve seen during prior periods of contraction, expect there to be layoffs. However, don’t expect layoffs to last for long.
Layoffs tend to be short-lived in the manufacturing cycle. Employers – retain your skilled talent through the period of contraction. When the economy rebounds, you’ll want those great employees. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in a rush to hire skilled workers and may not find the talent you need.
What educators should do: Be ready to promote and fill your short-term retraining programs as displaced workers look for a quick reintegration into the workforce. Offer flexible, affordable bootcamps and certificates to get these individual back to work as soon as possible.
As dislocated workers seek new skills, technical colleges will see an uptick in enrollment. National trends have historically shown a correlation between economic slowdowns and increased enrollment in vocational and technical programs. For instance, during the Great Recession, technical (voational) colleges experienced double-digit percentage increases in enrollment.
Source: EAB | What the 2008 Recession tells us about the future of the adult degree completer market
What educators should do: Expect a more diverse student body in 2025, including older learners looking to upskill in response to shifting workforce needs. Offer increased support to adult learners, including transportation and childcare assistance.
We’ve recommended several times now the need for educators to prepare for more learners seeking short-term reskilling programs. So can education expect any funding to support these programs?
In 2025, The TechEd Podcast predicts federal initiatives will prioritize short-term training, boot camps, and certifications to address workforce needs. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization and the new Stronger Workforce for America Act highlight a bipartisan push to allocate more funding to rapid upskilling.
What educators should do: Bolster your short-term training programs. Start marketing them in your community. And keep an eye on federal funding so you can leverage it in your own institution.
While manufacturing faces challenges, skilled trades like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work are expected remain immune to broader economic trends. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for HVAC technicians to grow at a steady 9% annually, with 40,100 new job openings each year through 2032. Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters will see a 6% annual increase with 26,300 new jobs. Electricians will experience an 11% annual increase, with 84,300 new job openings each year.
In most cases, learners can enter a skilled trade through a Youth Apprenticeship or Registered Apprenticeship program, earning wages while learning their trade. For those entrepreneurial-minded tradespeople, there’s a great option to own your own business, too.
Ken Rusk, a proponent of skilled trades, was on the TechEd Podcast to discuss the financial benefit to a skilled trades career.
Source: The TechEd Podcast
What educators should do: K-12 educators – encourage your hands-on learners to pursue a skilled trade. Build your Youth Apprenticeship programs. Develop collaborations with skilled tradespeople who can speak to your classes. Postsecondary educators – strengthen your skilled trades programs and develop partnerships with local high schools to create a pipeline of students entering these programs.
Funding for dislocated workers (discussed in prediction #6) will emphasize training around emerging technologies. We’re talking about automation systems integration, robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. There has been a steady upward trend in automation investment in the United States over the past 5 years, and this will only continue to grow as technologies like AI become more ubiquitous.
Source: U.S. Companies Invest Heavily in Robots – IFR Preliminary Results
What educators should do: Anticipate that any federal funding will prioritize emerging technologies like automation, AI, and renewable energy. Ensure your curriculum and training equipment aligns to current (and future) industry needs.
Higher education will adapt with more flexible degree options, such as remote learning pathways and credit transfers from certifications or technical colleges. Why? In 2024, The TechEd Podcast predicted that higher education would be facing the enrollment cliff along with macroeconomic trends that have a generation of graduates wondering if a university education is right for them.
Universities will benefit from offering more flexible on-ramps to their degree programs, like giving credit for prior learning, broadening their credit transfer agreements with other institutions, and offering remote learning where possible.
A great example is the University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Automation Leadership degree, which accepts 88 credits from certifications and technical college transfers, and can be completed fully remotely, with in-state tuition offered to any student in the United States. You can hear Chancellor Katherine Frank and Department Chair David Ding discuss this program on The TechEd Podcast.
What educators should do: Be open to finding creative ways to give students a flexible, affordable learning experience at your institution.
Traditionally, technical colleges and universities have offered distinctly different educational experiences. Technical colleges emphasized rapid, career-focused, hands-on training for specific professions. Universities provided a more holistic approach, combining general studies with degree-specific work, and often catering to high school graduates who could attend full-time, live on campus and have a full “experience”. In 2025, expect that to change.
Universities are starting to do what technical colleges have done for years in terms of breaking up their coursework into more bite-sized pieces, offering remote learning options, flexible start dates, and shorter-term certificates that are attractive to working Americans.
Technical colleges are starting to add to their educational experience, with some leading institutions going above and beyond the associates degree with additional coursework that can bring them closer to a four-year degree.
What educators should do: K-12 educators – stay apprised of these trends and counsel your high school students to choose a postsecondary option accordingly. Higher educators – if your institution is firmly set in a traditional method of delivery, you may face the consequences this year. Be open to alternative delivery methods for your content and degrees.
As data centers, and AI models drive increasing demand for energy, the importance of energy education is rising rapidly. Large language models like ChatGPT consume the equivalent energy of 130 homes in a year just during training, while even simpler AI applications require significant resources.
Source: World Economic Forum | AI and energy: Will AI help reduce emissions or increase demand? Here’s what to know
In this age of AI, our energy consumption will only continue to grow. The more environmentally friendly those energy sources can be, the better. And that’s where The TechEd Podcast predicts nuclear energy will come into play in 2025.
Modular nuclear reactors and recommissioned facilities are making clean energy more viable, and demand for process control specialists—including skills in SCADA systems, level, flow, and temperature control—will surge to manage these facilities effectively.
What educators should do: Incorporate energy-focused curriculum and process control systems into technical programs. Establish partnerships with energy companies and highlight the diverse opportunities in this evolving sector to attract students.
EV training was our #1 prediction in 2024. Today, the electric vehicle industry continues to grow, driving demand for workers trained in EV technology, battery systems, and infrastructure development. Challenges such as efficient charging infrastructure and battery weight remain obstacles, but ongoing innovation is addressing these issues. In particular, EV-related training must expand to meet demand for technicians capable of installing, maintaining, and optimizing charging stations nationwide.
What educators should do: Build programs that integrate traditional automotive skills with advanced EV competencies. Collaborate with industry partners to offer certifications and hands-on learning opportunities in EV systems and infrastructure.
No list of top trends in education in 2025 would be complete without a reference to artificial intelligence!
In 2025, applied artificial intelligence will be a cornerstone of technical education. We’re not talking about ChatGPT, image generators and conversational AI. We’re talking about applied artificial intelligence in the context of technical education.
There’s an astounding about of AI embedded in tech you’ll see an a tech ed lab: autonomous vehicles, drones, 3D scanners, smart manufacturing systems, robots and more. Schools who can teach the edge-to-cloud continuum, smart sensors, data analytics and programming will equip their learners to understand the applied side of AI.
What educators should do: Invest in AI-focused technologies and curriculum designed specifically to teach hands-on application of artificial intelligence. Keep an eye out for exciting announcements on this topic in 2025!
These 13 predictions set the stage for an exciting 2025 for STEM and technical education. As educators, employers, and policymakers navigate these trends, the focus will remain on equipping learners with the skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing world. Stay tuned to The TechEd Podcast for deeper insights into these topics and more throughout the year.
