The interest in supply chain programs at many Colleges & Universities is growing, one positive by-product of the degree to which the subject of supply chains captured headlines during the past year. More students—and as importantly, their parents—now know what a supply chain is.

The supply chain doesn’t have a history like accounting or finance. You don’t have parents telling their kids to go into the supply chain. The pandemic has changed that and programs are noticing an uptick in interest.

The value of strong supply chains has also become apparent to students in a range of disciplines. Since 2017, supply chain and operations a module in supply chain management in the health and medical devices sector. It attracts students from a range of disciplines within the Institutions, including business, medicine, public health, and science and engineering.

The concepts of risk mitigation, resilience, and agility, while always important, are gaining prominence. Supply chain students will spend more time identifying, assessing, and responding to risk, and supply chain talent strategies. While many in academia have been discussing the need for supply chain professionals to prepare for disruptive events, whether a natural disaster or pandemic, the benefits of doing so aren’t as easy to quantify as, for instance, cutting inventory costs. COVID-19 may change that.

Supply chain resilience has also become an increasingly integral part of research and teaching. In teaching, this would be covered as a function of the level of redundancy and flexibility that can be built into the supply chain through choices made by policy and/or decision-makers.

The pandemic also hammered home how uncertain the world is, and how future supply chain professionals need to hone their ability to solve problems even amidst uncertainty. It’s more ambiguous and tough on students. But it helps students learn to thrive in a changing environment.