If conventional wisdom says that three is a trend, then what is four, five or a dozen? We’d like to believe that it’s the beginning of real change.
That’s why we are excited about the growing number of public/private partnerships that combine resources and collaboration to create innovative, affordable new higher education opportunities.
To name a few, when UPS faced a critical workforce shortage, it teamed up with Kentucky state government and local higher education institutions to create Metropolitan College. Now, UPS employees receive regular company benefits plus tuition and book expenses at the University of Louisville or Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Earlier this year, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced a partnership to make an associate’s or bachelor’s degree available at no cost for eligible full-time and part-time associates in Wisconsin through College for America at Southern New Hampshire University.
With 600,000 manufacturing jobs unfilled each year in the U.S., Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky founded KY FAME (Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing), an employment training partnership that includes more than 75 employers statewide. Students attend college two days a week and work 24 hours a week learning valuable skills on the job. After five semesters, they can earn an Associate’s in Applied Science in Industrial Maintenance Technology and are qualified for a high-paying job with potentially zero school debt.
In perhaps the highest profile effort, coffee drinkers see fliers at Starbucks that announce its partnership with Arizona State University to provide tuition coverage to employees working toward a bachelor’s degree as part of The Starbucks College Achievement Plan.
This enlightened investment in education by private-sector partners is just one piece of the innovation. Such investments make sense to employers because colleges and universities are responding to their requests for more flexible, creative and learner-focused programs.
Institutions of higher education are syncing up better with employer and student needs, in part, by redefining courses and programs to focus on competencies, or skills, rather than on courses defined by seat time. Referred to as competency-based education, this approach gives learners access to education that is flexibly scheduled and tied to workforce demands. Roughly 600 colleges are in the design phase for a new competency-based program or already have a program in place.
Read more at The Hill: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/259295-policymakers-should-take-heed-of-higher-education-innovation