Last week, Maricopa Community College (MCC) announced the creation of a “corporate college” to be headed by Dr. Eugene Giovannini, the current president of GateWay Community College.
MCC has developed the non-accredited institution for the delivery of customized training to employers in the surrounding community. The mission of the corporate college is to meet the evolving demands of the ever-changing workforce. It is expected that the new college will give employees the proper technical training they need to help close the skills gap.
The new college is looking to create and develop suitable training solutions based on the unique needs of businesses in the area. It is anticipated that the services offered by the yet-to-be-named college will include and go beyond continuing education and consultancy services. However the college will not offer credit for courses to those who enroll.
“The principal difference is the colleges provide workforce training solutions with already-designed programs, while the corporate college responds to the employer’s immediate needs with custom solutions,” Dr. Giovannini said in a press release from MCC.
The creation of the new corporate college by MCC is timely given the popularity of performance-based state funding across several states, including Arizona. This new funding model, based more on outcomes than enrollments, may begin to influence how higher education institutions’ state appropriations are determined.
