How colleges and employers can bridge the divide to co-create innovative, risk-sharing pathways that align education and workforce needs for lifelong learner success.
It seems like every few days we get a new report or article on the skills gap lamenting the fact that colleges and universities are not preparing graduates with the skills employers are seeking; here are some recent examples from Pearson, McKinsey and the Burning Glass Institute, just to pick a few. Whether these are accurate reflections of the problem isn’t the point. We can have a reasonable debate about whether these numbers are right or wrong and can agree that more data is almost always helpful in understanding the challenge. What’s infuriating is what happens when it comes time to assign responsibility for this skills gap. Employers and higher education have each been trying to pin the blame on the other side for what seems like decades now.
Until we get past employers and higher education pointing fingers at each other for solving this problem, we’ll keep getting nowhere fast. The winners going forward will be those that partner across this divide and create novel pathways that work for all, without placing the entire cost and risk burden on the back of the learner. So, what does this look like?
Two important ways that employers and universities can work together are through co-design and co-instruction. Co-design, where industry experts and faculty work together to co-create courses or full certificate or degree programs, is essential especially in rapidly changing fields like biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, AI, data science and information technology. Professionals in these fields know that things change dramatically if you step away for a year or two. Traditional faculty who have left professional practice or maybe have never worked in these roles can find it very challenging to continuously adapt curricula. Doing it in collaboration with industry experts can help each contribute to aligning the curriculum to current job role expectations, thus ensuring graduates are prepared and competitive for those roles. No more finger pointing.
Co-instruction takes co-design to the next level. In addition to participating in curriculum design, industry experts and faculty can teach the courses together. This model has the advantage of bringing industry-relevant knowledge and practices into the course while helping keep curricula up to date with the latest industry changes. Both co-design and co-instruction require bilateral flexibility. Employers and educators must find a way to meet in the middle, which may require changing traditional policies and practices both on the part of universities (e.g., flexible scheduling and credit for applied learning) and employers (e.g., dedicated time for learning, aligning work projects to match course assignments).
Because affordability and the ability to balance the time needed for work and family responsibilities while pursuing the education needed to climb the career ladder and realize the benefits of economic mobility, I am a strong advocate for degree partnerships with full employer or third-party tuition support. Here are several examples of this type of employer partnership that I helped develop.
GE Bachelor’s in Advanced Manufacturing Systems
Employees at GE can earn a Bachelor of Science in Advanced Manufacturing Systems with Northeastern, with the support of GE’s tuition benefit program. A unique aspect is that the program is offered on-site at selected GE manufacturing plants, bringing the opportunity for educational advancement right to where the learners are. GE engineers collaborated with Northeastern faculty on program design and co-teaching some courses.
Biotech Associates to Master’s (A2M) Program
The program offers students a fast track to earning associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biotechnology and preparing for careers in life sciences. Co-designed with local biotech employers including Pfizer and Vertex, the program provides an opportunity for students to qualify for high-paying jobs in Greater Boston’s biotech workforce. In addition to scholarships for low-income students, the program also provides industry site visits, research experiences, paid internships, mentorship and academic and career advising.
PwC While You Work CPA Acceleration Program
Co-designed with PwC, this unique one-year program provides a path for new graduates to obtain additional credit hours and a master’s degree while working at PwC. This paid part-time fellowship combines real work experiences at PwC and a tuition-paid, online master’s degree program at Northeastern University.
U.K. Degree Apprenticeship with ServiceNow
Designed by Northeastern faculty and ServiceNow, apprentices are hired full time at ServiceNow clients and partners and complete a three-year BSc in digital and technology solutions degree along with ServiceNow certifications, including Certified System Administrator and Certified Implementation Specialist in IT Service Management. The initial degree apprenticeship was later expanded to include other industry certifications and degree pathways in data science and AI.
Partnerships with on-ramp providers are another essential component of developing career-connected learning that bridges the gap between education and employment. On-ramps are an often-neglected component of bridging the gap between education and careers. Well-designed on-ramp models allow career changers or other early-career individuals to start with a low-cost or free program to get up to baseline proficiency, while giving them a clear pathway to continue their learning. The best partnerships are those between on-ramp providers and higher education that support learners by converting the on-ramp experience into credit to help reduce the time and cost of a degree, should they choose that option. Bringing employers into the partnership to fund the remainder of the path to a degree or certificate is when the magic really happens. Nonprofits that serve their local community are often much better positioned than universities to help these learners begin their journey with appropriate supports and peer connections. Other on-ramp models connect employer-created microcredentials to degree programs to allow individuals to continue their learning journey while reducing the time and cost of a degree.
Here are some examples of partnerships with on-ramp providers I have helped launch in prior years as well as others I admire at University of Virginia.
YearUp United
YearUp United provides a year-long workforce development program that combines hands-on skills instruction, professional skills courses and corporate internship experience that prepares and places learners into high-demand careers in tech and finance. Northeastern partnered with YearUp to recognize that experience for up to 28 credits toward the Bachelor of Science in IT, the Bachelor of Science in Project Management and the Bachelor of Science in Management, a savings of up to over $15,000 in tuition. YearUp participants can also apply their employer’s tuition benefits to further defray the cost of a degree.
Merit America
Merit America seeks to provide a path to skilled careers in IT, advanced manufacturing and healthcare for adults without bachelor’s degrees. Individuals who complete Merit America’s IT Support or Java Development coursework who wish to pursue a bachelor’s degree are eligible for up to 18 credits toward Northeastern’s Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. This pathway saves both time to graduation and overall tuition cost.
IBM Digital Badges
With nearly 2,500 offerings, IBM has been a leader in offering digital credentials to its employees, partners and the public. IBM employees, customers and members of the public can count selected IBM-issued badges for credit toward three Northeastern professional master’s degree programs: data analytics, project management and portfolio management.
Google Career Certificates
Learners who successfully complete Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate and are accepted to Northeastern’s College of Professional Studies can be awarded up to 12 credits toward a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, shortening their time to a degree and saving them more than $6,000 in tuition.
UVA Enlighten
Targeted at employees at UVA Health or in other nonclinical healthcare roles, Enlighten offers individuals with little to no college experience the opportunity to earn 36 undergraduate credits while developing key professional skills that can immediately enhance job performance. UVA Health employees can use their tuition benefit to cover all or most of the cost. Those who complete the program are eligible to apply to the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) or Bachelor of Professional Studies in Health Sciences Management (BPHM) program at UVA SCPS. A great example of building pathways within your own institution!
Beyond credit-bearing pathways like those above, employer partnerships can also support career exploration and career-connected learning both within courses as well as co-curriculars. A new effort we are piloting now at University of Virginia is UVA CareerConnect, a platform that provides access to real-world projects and virtual internships from 40,000 global employers, primarily small to midsize businesses and nonprofits. UVA CareerConnect is built on top of Riipen’s platform supporting work-based learning projects as well as a career exploration tool called 1mentor that ingests 250+ million job postings and supports students and alumni in exploring how their skill profile aligns to occupations of interest. This data is refreshed every 30 days, providing learners with near-real-time data on rapidly changing labor market trends and expectations.
These examples are meant as starting points to inspire others to build their own versions. Even smaller and less well-resourced colleges can implement these partnership models with local employers and nonprofits. By having employers and universities work together, we can finally get past the finger pointing to bridge the divide and co-create innovative, risk-sharing pathways that align education and workforce needs for lifelong learner success. These collaborative efforts are not just about addressing immediate skill gaps; they are 21st-century opportunity engines that invest in the long-term success of individuals, companies and communities, ensuring economic mobility and building a future-proof workforce.