While certificates have become a proven strategy to re-enroll stops outs, young adults and everything in between, postgraduate learners are catching on.
The "great unbundling" of community colleges' academic offerings is rapidly feeding career-ready adult learners into high-demand fields. The prize for institutions: Higher enrollment and student buy-in.
To bolster enrollment and help working adult learners overcome the obstacles impeding their educational goals, academia and the business sector must take proactive and collaborative action.
"A strategic plan is somewhat useless today," Florida Institute of Technology President John Nicklow says. "Our industry partners are changing rapidly, so our plan better as well."
These two institutions are prioritizing experiential learning and initiatives that allow students to switch gears into other professional avenues as they continue to evolve as rapidly as the world around them.
College leaders should be hard-pressed to understand which state institutions are ensuring their transfer students' success, considering one in five students entering public four-year institutions is a community college transfer.
Dual-mission institutions has validated ACE's efforts revamping the Carnegie Classification to recognize dynamic institutions that promote equitable pathways and opportunities for upward economic mobility, say officials.
With more employers emphasizing workers who can think critically and problem-solve, forward-thinking institutions are adapting new and emerging fields of study that better equip graduates with career-focused skills.
