How Universities Can Meet Today's Skills-Gap Challenges

Challenges
It's a national disgrace, and epic opportunity.

Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and other leading publications point out that our investment in training is a national disgrace.

This should come as no surprise. Despite lip service about people-as-our-most-important-asset, many organizations in the United States are under- training employees.

Analyze the global competition, and the story gets grimmer. The Germans, Chinese, South Koreans, Japanese and many others outspend us widely on training related to skill refurbishment and upgrading.

Turning Problems Into Opportunities

Many believe that the future has already happened. There is a time lag between investments in training and its full impact.

In short, many now believe the growing skills gap in the United States and our failure to remedy the situation will lead to loss of competitive advantage in many industries.

Organizations nationwide are now turning or returning to the notion that they must launch or re-energize their existing Corporate University. Further, more businesses are realizing credentials based on rigorous certification exams will be more valuable in the future than a college degree.

This realization is leading to more collaboration between internal training organizations and colleges and universities, especially community colleges. Also, schools can expect new opportunities for obtaining federal and state funding aimed at closing the skills gap.

Here's an excerpt from the National Skills Coalition:

"In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), replacing the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) as the largest single source of federal funding for workforce development activities.

WIA was to create a universal access system of one-stop career centers, which would provide access to training and employment services for a range of workers, including low-income adults, low-income youth, and dislocated workers.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress made substantial, badly-needed new investments in WIA.

As Congress looks to reauthorize WIA in 2012 it will be an opportunity to help ensure our nation’s workers receive the services and supports they need to go back to work and begin rebuilding our economy.

Ensuring that every U.S. worker has at least an industry certification, vocational degree or two years of college should be a national priority."

Join Human Resources IQ's Online Programs & Education for Colleges & Universities event to gain strategies for delivering, marketing, and growing online.

This conference will illustrate how internal training organizations are forging collaborative relationships with institutions of higher education; how internal training organizations nationwide are crafting and implementing innovative programs with schools to close identified skill gaps; and how schools are tapping into WIA and other sources of skills-gap funding.

Register yourself––and team of key people––today!

For more information visit www.onlinelearningandeducation.com