Giving Compass' Take:

•  Prioritizing student learning in employer-educator partnerships is critical for a more personalized and effective workforce development program.

• Why are employer-educator partnerships increasing at schools and universities? What can donors do to strengthen these programs? 

• Read the Giving Compass Workforce Development Guide for donors. 

Universities and business are increasingly partnering to upskill and "right skill" today's talent. These collaborations are attractive to stakeholders because they can offer an avenue to a degree, a chance to realign skills with the demands of today's workplace and provide a source for continuous learning.

Historically, professional development programs existed in universities' professional schools, said Peter Hirst, senior associate dean for executive education at MIT Sloan School of Management, Office of Executive Education, via email. The last few years have seen these schools expand their professional development offerings, with specialized master's degrees or non-degree and certificate programming targeted for a specific profession or industry, he said. That trend has been fueled by online programs and new for-profit providers who have increased partnerships to develop and deliver programs.

These partnerships can benefits companies of all sizes, according to Michelle Lanter Smith, chief marketing officer of E-Pay Systems. "Most often we see upskilling as a corporate effort, but it can definitely be an area of growth for smaller enterprise business that can't develop an upskilling program internally," she said in an email.

Some of the best collaborations happen when companies work with universities to design curricula where some of the training is done a' the employer's worksite and some is done at the university (or online), according to Betty Vandenbosch, chancellor of Purdue University Global.

Vandenbosch agreed personalization is critical for employers to close their specific skills gaps. "When businesses and universities work together," she said, "they can properly assess the needs of the business, identify skill gaps and develop a program to help employees achieve their degrees — therefore closing the gap."

Read the full article about employer-educator partnerships by Riia O'Donnell at Education Dive