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Collaborative Builds Credentialing Model That Improves the Pre-Employment Pool for Employers
PHILADELPHIA, PA and BOSTON, MA—(Marketwired - Jun 25, 2014) - CorpU and Jobs for the Future today announced the launch of the College Employer Collaborative, a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action. The announcement was made at the CGI America meeting in Denver, Colorado. CorpU provides a purpose-built social learning platform with great courses from top universities for organizations to improve talent and leadership. Jobs for the Future (JFF) is a nationally recognized leader in linking workforce development efforts and education systems. The Collaborative is designed to provide postsecondary students with highly sought-after workforce skills demanded by employers.
Joining the Collaborative is an innovative group of sixteen employers including Agco, Boeing, Farmers Insurance, FEI, and SAP representing over 1.1 million employees across a range of fast growing job sectors. Rounding out the Collaborative are a group of community colleges including Clover Park Technical College, Everett Community College, the Kansas Board of Regents, Neosho County Community College, Seattle Community Colleges, and the Wichita Area Technical College.
Today, employers struggle to find workers with the skills required to succeed in the country's workforce, despite a 6.7 percent national unemployment rate, which translates to nearly 11 million workers, there are approximately 4 million jobs unfilled. This persistent skills-gap is reported by the majority of employers regardless of industry, and affects their ability to find employees able to perform essential job functions. To address the gap, the Collaborative is creating curricula and credentials for essential job skills designed to meet employer demands.
The idea emerged from a summit held by CorpU and the World Economic Forum to explore how learning and technology could be combined to close the gap. What emerged was a recognition that employers could work together to concurrently solve their own issues while contributing to the greater good.
"We're seeing frustration on both sides, from the employers who have open positions that need to be filled as well as from the students who graduate and expect to land a job," said Mary Wright, program director at Jobs for the Future. "If Jobs for the Future can engage community colleges and CorpU can bring employers together, together we can make sure that students learn the skills they need from the employers who may hire them. With the Collaborative, we have a chance at solving this vexing problem. What is so encouraging is the enthusiastic support we've received from the community colleges and nationally known employers for what is a game-changing strategy."
The Collaborative has three main goals:
- To have more community college students learn in-demand skills directly from employers while receiving the benefit of a college environment.
- To greatly improve the education-employer talent pipeline.
- To provide employers with a lower-cost option to deliver basic skills training to both their incumbent workers and the pre-employment pool.
"CorpU has a deep understanding of the needs of top corporations and the potential for well-crafted learning programs to drive organizational success. By using our technology we are able to create focused online courses that teach the necessary skills that employers are looking for," said Alan Todd, CEO of CorpU. "The benefits of the Collaborative will pay dividends to students throughout their careers. The opportunity to work with partners who understand the need and are committed to making this a success has been a great experience so far."
The top priority of the College Employer Collaborative is to substantially increase the number of community college students who graduate workforce-ready by flipping the supply and demand model between employers and educators. By channeling employer content directly to colleges, the Collaborative uses the growing market for online worker training programs to bridge the gap between the needs of employers and traditional postsecondary education.
"The College Employer Collaborative strengthens the capacity of community colleges to serve students through an enhanced review of their work experiences and training aligned with employer identification of desired skills and competences," said Jim Genandt, vice president for Student Learning of Neosho County Community College. "This level of interaction results in a stronger engagement of the colleges to assess learning which results in moving students more efficiently to earning a certificate/degree."
For more information, view this video from CorpU, or visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WI76bKkX70.
About CorpU
Partnering with the best faculty from the best universities, CorpU brings a powerful new way to connect people to solve problems, generate ideas, teach and learn, and capture knowledge. Its Virtual Learning Communities integrate social media, web 2.0, cloud computing, and mobile technologies to seamlessly connect employees anytime, from anywhere, and on any device. For more, visit www.corpu.com.
About Jobs for the Future
Jobs for the Future works with its partners to design and drive the adoption of innovative and scalable education and career pathways leading from college readiness to career advancement for those struggling to succeed in today's economy. The organization strives to fulfill the promise that education and economic mobility in America is achieved for everyone. Jobs for the Future works to ensure that all lower-income young people and workers have the skills and credentials needed to succeed in our economy, by creating solutions that catalyze change in our education and workforce delivery systems. For more info please visit: www.jff.org.
About Clinton Global Initiative America
The Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America), a program of the Clinton Global Initiative, addresses economic recovery in the United States. Established in June 2011 by President Bill Clinton, CGI America brings together leaders in business, government, and civil society to generate and implement commitments to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, and support workforce development in the United States. Since its first meeting, CGI America participants have made over 300 commitments valued at more than $15 billion when fully funded and implemented. To learn more, visit cgiamerica.org.
Contacts:
Erin Lumley
Senior Director
Grayling on behalf of CorpU
925-899-1355
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