Four ways Capital Region colleges are focusing on workforce development
By Justin Dawes / Albany Business Review / Aug. 12, 2021
Since before the pandemic — and even more since then — colleges have been looking for ways to make higher education more relevant to the modern needs of students.
Among those efforts have been the addition of new programs and corporate partnerships that give students training and experiences that can be directly applied to the workforce.
Here are a few examples of new workforce training initiatives announced by Capital Region colleges this year:
Life sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute received a $500,000 grant to add a 21-credit life science entrepreneurship concentration within its MBA program as well as a 12-credit certificate program in the same area starting in fall 2022.
The program adds to the collective effort, including from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, to make the Capital Region a hub for the life sciences industry.
Video games
Starting next semester, informatics undergraduate students at the University at Albany will have the option to select a concentration in game design and development. The program includes creating playable game prototypes using industry software development programs, as well as learning how to distribute projects on a variety of app and game store platforms.
And Rensselaer is partnering with several others to launch the The Game On Accelerator Program, a nonprofit program to help advance video game studio startups in the Capital Region.
Fintech
Rensselaer is part of a collaboration that’s getting $2.5 million in investment from industry partners and the government to study how financial firms can better integrate technology.
Students from a variety of academic areas will help carry out research for the program, called the Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies, which is meant to help the U.S. finance industry continue to be competitive on the global stage.
Aircraft mechanics
Hudson Valley Community College and the Albany International Airport are collaborating to create a new training program for aircraft mechanics. Long-term plans for the new Aeronautical Technology Institute are that it will offer a full aviation training program, including flight school, mechanical engineering and avionics IT.
Published: Fri, 13 Aug 2021 12:05:00 +0000 by d.gardner