Partnering for Progress: Aligning Technical Education With Business and Industry

Learning Objectives:

• Identify sponsors of IT industry training
• Distinguish between the startup and ongoing costs for industry training
• Determine the easiest and the most difficult tasks for IT industry training
• List the learning options for offering IT industry needs
• Evaluate the nonfinancial costs and benefits for offering IT industry training
• Define the reasons to partner with businesses for customized IT training
• Determine the support necessary for keeping such a partnership healthy
• Identify ways to involve business and industry professionals in advisory committees
• Discover the sources available to seek out industry training opportunities

Two-year colleges have a long tradition of working with business and industry. Challenges associated with information technology training, however, present new opportunities for partnerships. Industry is dealing with the reality that the shelf life for most IT knowledge is about 18 months. Our challenge is to provide solutions for coping with this volatile reality. Colleges and business and industry benefit from this relationship: industry by clarifying essential skills to accomplish business goals and colleges by providing the means to deliver those skills. The common link in this partnership is the set of IT competencies needed by IT workers. Colleges can facilitate the identification of such skills and clarify the scope of such training. The desired outcome of this partnership is to provide IT workers with a value-add experience while supporting the goals of their business.

To find out more, email Ed Leach or call (480) 705-8200, x233.