Higher education institutions are adopting the Credential As You Go framework. They are building incremental credentials to help students progress on their learning paths and increase graduation rates while giving them something to show employers. This represents a tremendous opportunity for credentialing organizations to partner with higher education institutions to develop new pathways into professions and better serve students.
Hosted by Credential As You Go (CAYG) and Workcred, Inc., the virtual summit on “Embedding Industry Certifications in Academic Programs: A Win-Win” included three panel discussions with industry experts:
- First: National experts defining industry certifications and highlighting the benefits of embedding them in academic programs. Moderated by Karen Elzey, Associate Executive Director of Workcred, the panel included:
- Julie Uranis, Vice President, Online and Strategic Initiatives, UPCEA
- Michelle Spires, Assistant Vice President of Learning Evaluations
- Rufus Glasper, President and CEO, League for Innovation in the Community College
- Second: Educational, training, and certification providers who share their experiences in aligning industry certifications with academic programs including: the parties involved, resources required, and lessons learned. Moderated by Bill West, EVP of Business Development at Global Skills X-Change (GSX), this panel included:
- Heather Ramsey, Director of Academic Engagement, Project Management Institute (PMI)
- Terryn Batiste, Accreditation & Licensure/Certification Manager,Houston Community College
- Third: National experts responding to the first two panels and providing a forum for an open discussion. The final session was moderated by Melissa Goldberg, Co-Lead, Credential As You Go & Director of Competencies Credentials, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce. The panel portion included:
- Earl Buford, President of CAEL
- Dr. Thomas Walker, Senior Advisor for Economic Development and Military Affairs of the University of North Carolina System.
Key Takeaways
- Insight into the changes and advancements of the Nation’s credentialing system
- How credentialing organizations can partner with higher education institutions to enable incremental credentials and create pathways to professions
- How higher education institutions are partnering with local labor markets to build targeting credentialing programs
For more details about the Summit and presenters, click here to visit the official Credential As You Go (CAYG) archives site that contains the agenda, related playbook, and recording.