Expanding the Connecticut Tech Workforce Government, Business, and Higher Education Collaborate on Tech Talent Ecosystem
The Tech Talent Accelerator (TTA) builds upon two previous phases of work, begun in 2021 when The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) were designated by the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy (OWS) to direct a higher education innovation challenge: the Connecticut Higher Education Tech Talent Accelerator. Through the state’s initial investment in TTA, 13 partnerships between business and higher education institutions have been built. In this third phase, with an additional investment from the State of Connecticut, TTA will address ongoing developments related to the incorporation of AI technologies in tech occupations across industries, working to increase access to credential pathways leading to in-demand tech jobs and strengthen collaboration between business and higher education institutions.
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2024
Time: 9:00am – 3:30pm
Location: Quinnipiac University, North Haven Campus
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), in collaboration with the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), and Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), will be hosting the Tech Talent Ecosystem Summit on Thursday, September 19th at Quinnipiac University, North Haven Campus. The Summit is the culminating event of the Connecticut Tech Talent Accelerator (TTA) grant program which NEBHE has been leading for the state. TTA enables high-impact partnerships between business and higher education institutions to close tech talent gaps and is funded by the state’s Tech Talent Fund.
The Summit will convene higher education institution leaders, tech industry leaders, policy makers, workforce development leaders, foundation leaders, and credential providers to share lessons learned from the Connecticut Tech Talent Accelerator, highlight promising practices from initiatives across state, and inspire strategies to sustain the work into the future. Please visit the event website for more information.
Watch sessions below:
During the first session we will have panelists from Infosys, CDG LLC and CYPROTECK, and The Hartford to discuss how these companies are keeping pace and staying ahead of challenges in the tech industry. In the second session, new grantees and industry partners from the second TTA cohort will showcase their projects and lessons learned on the process of developing timely, industry-relevant credentialing programs.
TES is an all-in-one solution for researching transfer credit, tracking evaluations, and managing equivalencies for registrars, enrollment managers and transfer coordinators. The platform allows the user to compare the content and course outcomes from one institution to another. Using TES, college staff are able to quickly locate course descriptions, route and track the evaluation process, store, manage, group, and publicize the resulting equivalencies, and employ powerful algorithms to generate lists of equivalencies between institutions.
Transferology is a nation-wide network that assists transfer advisors, students, and parents in making educated decisions when transferring credit. Students are able to enter coursework and instantly see how credits transfer to member institutions.
TES and Transferology can be fully integrated to allow credit evaluators to make decisions based on real student usage data, thus creating a seamless and holistic transfer solution.
The first half of the COP meeting will feature the booster grantees, showcasing successes and sharing the unique aspects of their programs, their challenges and solutions other institutions can learn from.
The second half of the meeting will highlight workforce development initiatives complementary to the Tech Talent Accelerator, including CareerConneCT, Good Jobs Challenge, Campus CT and more. Grantees and their business partners will have the chance to learn how these efforts may align with their projects, such as identifying new enrollment pipelines, funds to support internships and additional venues to network with prospective business partners.
One of the priorities for the Tech Talent Accelerator is to facilitate collaboration between higher education institutions and industry champions. In the first session of this community practice, we will share best practices and resources to navigate these working relationships.
Another priority of the Tech Talent Accelerator is to assist higher education institutions with embedding industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) and industry-validated knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) into the curriculum to promote learners’ work readiness. Amazon Web Services and Google award industry-recognized credentials that allow individuals to demonstrate attainment of in-demand KSAs for tech roles. These companies provide resources to faculty to understand and leverage IRCs in their content and curriculum. This meeting will highlight the resources and tools that AWS and Google offer for professional and curriculum development.
The Connecticut Higher Education Tech Talent Accelerator 2.0 application was due on August 7, 2023. The grant period will run from September 2023 to October 2024. Watch the Request for Proposals Informational Webinar below for more information on this past application process.
Watch sessions below: