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A new report aiming to “fill the gap” of information on industry-led postsecondary partnerships recommends colleges and employers work more closely together “to strengthen students’ pathways through postsecondary education and into in-demand careers.”
The report by the American Institutes for Research surveyed 23 active public-private partnership programs and analyzed their structures and goals in hopes of “providing lessons and opportunities for developing, sustaining, and scaling these initiatives.” The results showed that these partnerships are highly supported at two-year colleges and that nearly all the partnerships surveyed offer job training and placement.
“This reorientation requires better alignment of majors and degrees—and the skills and competencies learned—to job opportunities,” the report states. “It also requires stronger work-based learning opportunities, which are critical to students’ (especially underrepresented students’) exploration of careers and their acquisition of employability skills and social capital.”
Similar to patterns from a recent report on the use of labor market data in higher education, AIR’s results show that industry-led partnerships are most commonly used by two-year institutions. Of the programs surveyed, 100 percent involved a public community college, followed by 74 percent that included a four-year public college or university as well.
Almost all the programs surveyed offered career exploration activities and/or job placement for potential employees at 96 and 91 percent, respectively. The manufacturing and health-care industries were the most commonly represented, making up more than 70 percent of the programs surveyed.
