How the college degree lost its value: Nearly half of US companies plan to ax Bachelor’s degree requirements – after Walmart, Accenture and IBM led the charge

Nearly half of U.S. companies plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some positions next year, a new survey shows.

And 55 percent said they had already eliminated degree requirements this year, according to an Intelligent.com survey of 800 U.S. employers conducted in November.

It comes after Walmart, IBM, Accenture, Bank of America and Google announced similar plans.

The survey found that the same employers who have already eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements were much more likely to continue to do so.

In October, Walmart removed a college degree as a requirement for hundreds of its corporate positions, saying it would remove “unnecessary barriers” that hinder career advancement. Pictured is a corporate office in San Bruno

Accenture, for example, launched an internship program in 2016 and has since hired 1,200 people. CNBC reports this.

About 80 percent of these people joined the company without a four-year degree.

Earlier this year, the company expanded the program with a goal of filling 20 percent of its entry-level U.S. positions.

“A person’s education credentials aren’t the only indicators of success, so we’ve evolved our approach to recruiting to focus on skills, experiences and potential,” said Jimmy Etheredge, CEO of Accenture North America.

In October, Walmart removed a college degree as a requirement for hundreds of its corporate positions, saying it would remove “unnecessary barriers” that hinder career advancement.

It said applicants would see updated job descriptions next year.

In particular, it said it will waive the need for a university degree if candidates can demonstrate that they have acquired the necessary skills through alternative prior experience.

“While degrees should be part of the system and in some cases even required, there are many positions where a degree is simply not necessary, including at corporate headquarters,” said a blog post from the retailer.

But while some companies appear to be leading the movement, companies that have not made changes so far appear less likely to do so in the future.

Of companies that have not eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements by 2023, only 9 percent say they will do so next year.

Accenture launched an internship program in 2016 and has since hired 1,200 people, 80 percent of whom joined without a degree

As part of the survey, employers were also asked which types of positions they would be most likely to eliminate degree requirements for.

Of the 55 percent who eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements, 70 percent did so for entry-level positions, 61 percent for mid-level positions and 45 percent for senior positions.

And of the 95 percent of employers who require bachelor’s degrees, 24 percent require them for three-quarters of their jobs and 27 percent say they require degrees for about half of their jobs.

A report published last year by the Burning Glass Institute described the growing trend of reducing degree requirements as “an essential step in reducing inequality in the American labor market.”