As the technology industry continues to expand, bringing with it a great number of new and rewarding high-paying jobs, there is a widening skills gap in New Jersey and across the country. In fact, we have more than half a million technology jobs open because workers lack the right skills to fill them. To connect people with these opportunities, we must innovate and diversify our approaches to education and training in order to expand the number of pathways for students and mid-career professionals alike. The education and training must build in-demand tech skills in data science, cybersecurity, cognitive development and business. Many of these skills are essential in the growing class of new collar jobs.
To help more students build those skills, IBM Global University Programs and the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Martin Tuchman School of Management have joined forces to offer an innovative program allowing degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students to learn skills that will make them competitive in the tech marketplace. NJIT is the first university in the United States — and the only university in North America — to adopt the IBM Skills Academy. While the program is new to the United States, the model already has been proven successful in other countries. First implemented in Africa in late 2014, the program now operates in 10 African countries and has trained or certified over 35,000 people for careers such as business intelligence analysts, cloud application developers and mobile application administrators.
The program pairs real-world experience through hands-on learning with online instruction modules. Through the NJIT and IBM partnership, students will be able to engage in career-oriented training, workshops and boot camps; expand career tracks in Business Intelligence Analyst, Business Process Analyst and Predictive Analyst Modeler; and earn industry-recognized IBM digital certification badges to show they’ve achieved mastery level skills in business analytics and business intelligence tools.
Flexible skills education models like this one offer the opportunity for countless individuals from diverse backgrounds to access in-demand skills training for high-paying, rewarding jobs in some of our economy’s fastest-growing fields. And, that training can be available within or outside of traditional undergraduate or graduate degree programs, making it accessible to a broader population of potential students. By expanding and modernizing skills education to align classroom and real-world learning with employers’ needs, we can strengthen our economy and drive tomorrow’s technological advancements. For this reason, partnerships between industry and academic institutions are especially important.
We must work together to develop and implement additional programs and reforms that will expand access to skills training, especially to those typically underrepresented in the technology industry. By rethinking our approach to skills training, we can close the skills gap and help more Americans access rewarding careers. These fresh approaches can be implemented at every level – including increasing interest in STEM education at a young age; modernizing high school vocational training; expanding access to high-tech apprenticeships and internships; and promoting private sector-academic partnerships.
To be successful, as both educators and employers we need to turn away from relying solely on traditional approaches to education, hiring and training. Innovation and diversity in how we educate, train and hire opens the door to diversity in the workplace, and diversity in the workplace will drive innovative thinking, ideas and progress.
For more information, visit management.njit.edu/flagship-alliance.
