Innovative university-workforce partnership models were the dominant theme of Bridges to Student Success: Engaging the Employer Voice Through Partnerships, a concurrent panel session at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Summer Meeting 2024, held last month in Denver.
Dr. Joshua Powers, Provost, William Paterson University (WP) was joined by Risepoint participants Tom McNamara, President of Workforce Development, and Dr. Amanda Smith, Chief Academic & Product Officer, who also served as moderator. They discussed WP’s two healthcare-employer initiatives, a Risepoint pre-nursing pathway model, and best practices for university-employer partnerships.
Partnerships focusing on local workforce needs
Dr. Powers said that WP’s first workforce initiative, with the regional Atlantic Health System, grew out of Atlantic’s increasing need for qualified nurses, alongside WP’s goal to extend nursing program accessibility. He said that the initiative builds on WP’s partnership with Risepoint and is another way the university is diversifying how they serve students. He added, “I also have a personal interest in this, as both my mother and grandmother were nurses.”
The aim of the partnership with Atlantic Health System is to create a pipeline of qualified nurses ready to join Atlantic. Through this initiative, WP and AHS together will serve 200 WP undergraduate nursing students per year: 100 completing pre-nursing requirements on campus and 100 completing clinical requirements via health system clinicals and a satellite simulation lab. Graduates of the program can apply immediately for Atlantic employment and tuition forgiveness incentives.
Dr. Powers described a second, newer healthcare initiative as a three-way partnership between a nearby health system, Wayne Township (NJ) Public Schools, and the university. This partnership centers on high school students being certified in phlebotomy, allowing them to work while earning dual enrollment credit and qualifying for a $1000 tuition waiver at WP. Dr. Powers said, “We launched [this] late last year, so we started off relatively small, but it’s really taken off [in 2024].”
Helping universities build pre-nursing pipelines
In describing how Risepoint has helped other universities design similar partnerships, Tom McNamara said, “We’ve seen some wonderful successes across the country with a nursing education model that not only addresses the nursing shortage but does it in a way that also provides a pathway for entry-level healthcare workers at the community- and family-sustaining levels.”
McNamara described a pre-nursing model that provides an initial 3- to 18-month online education pathway for adult students and/or Allied Health professionals who want to enter nursing, followed by an additional 18 monthsof core nursing and clinicals completed at a participating health system. Practice-ready graduates would then be guaranteed employment by the health system for at least 3 years, helping to address systemic challenges with recruiting and retention of nurses.
Outlining best practices for university-employer partnerships
“Investing in dedicated time to do needs assessments with local employers is essential to your student success, and we mean students of all ages, whether on campus or in online programs,” said Dr. Amanda Smith of Risepoint in summarizing the panel’s findings.
She described additional best practices for universities to engage with employers in building a more accessible education-to-workforce pipeline. These include engaging workforce advisory councils; emphasizing flexible and adaptive curriculum; including project-based learning and real-world assessments; collaborating on internships and externships; and providing dedicated partnership offices.
William Paterson University, a Risepoint partner, is a regional public university located in Wayne, New Jersey. It was founded in 1855 and named after the New Jersey patriot who was a signer of the U.S. Constitution. Today as a comprehensive higher education institution, WP provides a full range of baccalaureate, graduate, and continuing education programs in service to its diverse community, and to online learners in New Jersey and beyond.
