- Survey: Growing competition in the training field
- Colorado initiative to help businesses, workers get back on track
- Slow progress on comprehensive learner records
- House bill pitches rural workforce development grants
- Massachusetts college opens Scholarship Resource Center
Survey: Growing competition in the training field
Companies with external partnerships that provide employee training or professional development increased from 54% in 2022 to 68% in 2023, according to a new survey. But both two- and four-year higher education institutions lost ground to private providers in these areas.
In 2022, 49% of organizations had partnerships or relationships with four-year colleges and universities to provide training and professional development opportunities for their employees, according to a survey of business officials by UPCEA, an association for professional, continuing and online education. This dropped to 40% in 2023. Community colleges saw a decrease from 45% to 38%. Meanwhile, LinkedIn Learning rose from 44% to 52%, and professional associations from 29% to 46%.
“The decline in employer-institution partnerships demonstrates that colleges and universities are not just competing against each other, but also private providers that have established themselves as formidable competitors for these partnerships,” said the report, which focused mainly on four-year institutions. “It is crucial for colleges and universities to reassess their methods in cultivating these partnerships, refine their offerings, improve their communication, and enhance their marketing strategies.”
The report cited various potential reasons for the drop (mainly for four-year institutions), including: companies still wrestling with the workforce and economic aftermath of Covid; content that lacks real-world application; a slow turnaround time to deliver desired content; inconsistent content quality; and content not being offered frequently enough.
But the report noted other reasons why some companies are seeking partners other than four-year institutions. When asked for reasons why their companies might choose to team with community colleges, companies or professional associations (the three were usually lumped together in the report), 70% of respondents cited the quality of content, 53% said the reputation of the institution, and 49% said these relationships are more affordable.
Colorado initiative to help businesses, workers get back on track
The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) is using federal Covid recovery funds to help rural businesses and individuals bounce back from the pandemic’s impact on companies and workers.
The Workforce Resilience Program will leverage $750,000 in one-time federal recovery dollars to fund various workforce-related projects, from employee recruitment and retention to purchasing equipment. CCCS, which is running the program in partnership with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, says grants will range from $25,000 to $75,000.
“We know rural towns were hit hard during the pandemic, and many local and regional companies are still struggling to find qualified talent in its wake,” Michael Macklin, CCCS associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and workforce development, said in a release. “This program is designed to be a flexible, easy-to-access resource to uplift individuals, businesses and entire communities.”
Slow progress on comprehensive learner records
A growing number of large companies, state governments and federal agencies are embracing job applicants’ relevant skills and nixing college-degree requirements for many entry-level jobs. But higher education institutions are slow to design and implement models that would help with those assessments, according to new research.
A new report on so-called “comprehensive learner records” (CLR) by The EvoLLLution, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, and Modern Campus says that most colleges and universities (86%) acknowledge that postsecondary education models need to be designed around well-defined skills and competencies needed for today’s workforce, but only 22% have fully implemented skills-based frameworks across all of their programs, with 44% indicating their institutions have done so for some courses and programs.
The study examined the implementation of CLRs in educational institutions and whether institutions are taking steps to rethink their courses and credentials in terms of skills or competencies rather than credit hours. While respondents showed strong interest in skills, 49% of two-year and 52% of four-year institutions have no plans to implement CLRs, according to the report. Roughly equal percentages — 17% for two-year and 18% for four-year institutions — said they have plans to work on CLRs, with 20% of two-years and 19% of four-years indicating they are working to develop them.
“To make CLRs a reality for all learners, institutions need to make significant changes,” the report said. “Stronger engagement by institutional leadership is needed to help institutions invest in the process and provide the resources needed, particularly time, guidance and technical support.”
House bill pitches rural workforce development grants
A bipartisan House bill introduced last week aims to address the skills gap and workforce shortage in rural communities.
Co-sponsored by Reps. Nick Langworthy (R-New York) and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), the Creating Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success (CAREERS) Act (H.R. 7015) would allow the U.S. secretary of agriculture to allocate funds within the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program (Title VI of the Farm Bill) to support career pathway programs or industry or sector partnerships in key industry sectors, including public utilities, conservation practices and management, healthcare, childcare, manufacturing, agribusiness and others.
The competitive grant amounts would range from $500,000 to $2 million for eligible entities.
Among the supporters of the CAREERS Act is New York’s Corning Community College.
“The CAREERS Act creates grant opportunities for institutions like ours to provide critical training skills to thousands of workers across the country in high-demand industries. It’s good for American workers and good for the American economy,” William P. Mullaney, the college’s president, said in a press release.
Massachusetts college opens Scholarship Resource Center
Holyoke Community College Foundation will open its new Scholarship Resource Center at the end of the month, which the college says is the first of its kind among community colleges in Massachusetts and one of several recent changes to make the scholarship application process simpler and easier for students.
“While the main purpose of the center is to help students apply for scholarships, it’s also a place to celebrate our scholarship donors and teach students the value of philanthropy and what it means not only to their own educational journey but to the community at large,” Laura Freeman, HCC manager of stewardship and donor relations, said in a release.
The center will also help students submit their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which they will need to apply for scholarships, Freeman said. HCC also has a new online application platform to expedite the application process. As in past years, HCC said applicants only need to fill out a single online form to be automatically matched with the scholarships they are most qualified to receive.
