ichard C. Levin, President, Yale University
''We hope our students emerge with, obviously, the capacity to read and think about the world, to do that with clarity, to express themselves with clarity. But most of all to have acute critical intelligence, to be able to think critically about issues, to analyze them, to come up with their own conclusions under any circumstances.''

Nancy Cantor, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

''For students to be leaders in this complex world they need to be able to work with a diverse group of people. They have to be able to handle challenges and novelties that come up. They need to understand the context in which they live and the differences around the world. There isn't a pat answer anymore to this world, so the best we can do for students is have them ask the right questions.''

Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University

''An undergraduate education is a time to explore the great thinking that has occurred over time about subjects that endure. The university is about being able to move intellectually within a whole array of views. It is enormously difficult and requires moving outside your own little way of seeing the world. It's actually a quite frightening experience. The world will always be for you a more difficult and complicated place than perhaps you would like it to be.''

Leon Botstein, President, Bard College

''The primary skills should be analytical skills of interpretation and inquiry. In other words, know how to frame a question. How do you evaluate the safety record of an airline? How do you evaluate the risk when you smoke? The ability to understand the debate about economics, about Social Security or prescription drugs -- any issues you like. How does one distinguish truth from fiction, demagoguery from serious argument? In this is also the capacity for intelligent empathy, the ability to understand the other side even when you may not share it. You should not be dependent on the sources of information, either provided by the government or by the media, but have an independent capacity to ask questions and evaluate answers.

''A college education has to engender a lifelong habit of curiosity, as opposed to becoming more convinced that you are an authority. It has to provide the capacity to take deep enjoyment in aspects of human expression that are not commercial -- literature that is not blockbuster, theater that is not moneymaking.

''Finally, and terribly important, is that students develop a sense of value that is beyond material gain, beyond wealth and fame and power. It is about the way you conduct your life both as a private individual and as a citizen.''

What Do Employers Want?

Mimi Collins, Spokeswoman, National Association of Colleges and Employers

''Employers very consistently cite good communication skills as important, both verbal and written. Honesty and integrity are second, teamwork skills are third, interpersonal skills fourth and strong work ethic fifth. Employers are looking for people who can work together, which is one reason communication is the top skill, year in and year out. They look for all the getting-along skills.

''One of the things that colleges do emphasize is helping students get internships where they can get some going-to-work skills, and that plays into what employers value.''

Thomas M. Thivierge, Director of talent acquisition, General Motors

''We do look for ability to learn, because most students don't leave college with the ability to do the jobs initially. They need to show initiative, decision making, even though they may have not made a lot of decisions in their lives. Then we try to measure their results orientation. We want to get a sense of, if given a project, how do you get it done. Teamwork is very influential. This one is really abstract: we call it motivational fit. Are you tenacious? Can you overcome barriers? In large companies, that's important. Diversity comes into that: are you able to work in a diverse environment?

There are some hard skills we look for, too. We're making CAD/CAM donations at the universities to make sure students use that technology. We found that students weren't using it enough.

''A lot of students go to college and don't know what they want to be when they grow up. What we're asking is for them to make a choice. Do I want to build products? Do I want to be in information technology? If you want to work in finance, you better be getting a degree in accounting. We don't hire generalists right at the start. Once you've developed that core functional expertise, we'll pay for you to get broadening education. But at first you've got to know what your focus area is.''

Sharman Mailloux Sosa, Senior technical recruiter, Microsoft

''We look for students who are strategic thinkers, who can think about the bigger picture, think about long-term challenges. We want people who can jump into ambiguous problem spaces and still be very successful, who don't necessarily need to have a manual to assess a situation, people who can address a problem even when there is not a lot of clarity in it.''

Phyllis PalMiero, Executive director, State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

''You have to be pretty portable now. The interest has been basic skills. Every graduate should have these basic competencies: be able to write well, have some level of technologic literacy, have the ability to perform qualitative analysis, be scientifically literate, have strong oral communication, as well as strong critical thinking skills.''