2022 Curriculum-to-Career Innovations Institute

About the Institute

The Curriculum-to-Career Innovations Institute focuses on supporting campuses of all types to more fully link college learning with workforce preparedness and develop productive campus/industry partnerships. Through a focus on curricular and cocurricular alignment, defined learning and skill development, and high-impact experiences, campus teams will engage with experts from both higher education and industry to advance curriculum-based projects that promote equity and student success through meaningful career preparation.

The Institute’s approach to innovation emphasizes:

• design thinking
• broad and inclusive interdisciplinary perspectives
• collaboration across stakeholders
• systemic commitments to equity

Co-directed by AAC&U and IBM, this unique Institute will engage campus teams in design and mentoring opportunities across the Fall 2022 semester. Teams will have access to the expertise and mentorship of both higher education experts and industry leaders to shape and implement their Curriculum-to-Career projects. Additional design and development sessions, along with on-going mentoring, will occur in September and November. Participating teams will play a key role in shaping Institute sessions over the semester.

Institute Goals

Participating campuses will advance their campus efforts to more effectively link students’ learning with career preparedness through:

• Gaining strategies for developing mutually beneficial campus/industry partnerships
• Advancing problem-based, applied learning and teaching practices across disciplines aligned with workforce skills
• Articulating student achievement of skills through innovative credentialing frameworks (e.g. micro-credentials, badging, certificates, ePortfolios)
• Honing high-impact practices with a focus on career applications (e.g. micro-internships)
• Building more robust cross campus partnerships to support curricular innovations and faculty collaboration

Who Should Attend?

The Curriculum-to-Career Innovations Institute is designed for any campus across all sectors of higher education that wants to more intentionally link student learning with career preparedness. Attendees can be at any stage in the process of developing their curriculum to career project. Teams should include a diverse set of colleagues, including a senior academic officer, faculty, and campus educators beyond academic affairs who play vital roles in advancing students’ learning and career development (e.g., career center directors and student affairs professionals).