Vermont Business Magazine Burlington College announced Tuesday The Communiversity at Burlington College. This formal initiative brings together education and training partners such as Vermont HITEC, Community Kitchen Academy, Oplerno, New England Institute for Teacher Education, and the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology. It also engages supporting partners from the State of Vermont— Department of Labor and Department of Tourism & Marketing. Employers such as Vermont Information Processing, Husky, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Triad Business Services, and others are also part of this new endeavor.
What is a communiversity? This new concept in higher education focuses on creating a "campus" that meets the needs of the community.The Communiversity at Burlington College has formed partnerships with several organizations in an effort to begin to meet the needs of the community—locally and throughout the state. Additionally, it will mean more conversation from the community, more input from employers about their needs, and more collaboration from high schools, other colleges and universities, and other training institutions. It means working with community partners to identify and address gaps in skills and opportunities for the underemployed and unemployed, as well as providing identified competencies.
"The Communiversity will provide pathways for high school students and adult learners to achieve credentials, from badges and certifications to associate, bachelor, and master degrees. Working together with employers, high schools, tech centers, community groups and other educational institutions, The Communiversity at Burlington College will address the need for an educated and skilled workforce," said Burlington College president Dr. Carol Moore.
Burlington College's roots are deeply embedded in the community, having been founded exclusively to meet the needs of Burlington and the surrounding communities—specifically returning Vietnam veterans and adult learners. In keeping with the College's roots, The Communiversity at Burlington College plans to create pathways for non-traditional students to achieve higher education credentials, while entering the workforce or while currently employed.
“The Communiversity at Burlington College will fill a workforce development need and spur economic development by increasing skills in the region. Through the Communiversity model, there is more collaboration between employers, training institutions, and lifelong learners that will enhance the workforce landscape in Burlington and beyond,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Individualization is a central theme for students and partners at The Communiversity. Each student will have a personalized learning plan which is created to meet the student's needs. Partners have also created specific tracks that students can follow which lead to employment. The key is that if students need more focus in one area, they can do that. Additionally, if an employer needs specific skills, students can gain them.
So what does this look like? Imagine an employer needs ten new employees with skills to meet their growing workforce needs. A program can be developed to meet the training need, and the students can earn college credit for it. Ultimately, the employer received a trained workforce and the employee gains employment and higher education credentials.
Imagine a graduate of the Community Kitchen Academy who has obtained gainful employment, earned college credit and can now continue through smaller increments of relevant training to work toward a certificate or associates degree in Tourism and Event Management.
As The Communiversity at Burlington College grows, additional pathways for lifelong learning leading to workforce development will open. The vision of the future is that together with the community, we can increase the number of Vermonters who have education beyond high school and add to the skilled workforce for employers.
About Burlington College
Burlington College, founded in 1972, is a small, progressive college which focuses on the individuality of each student and emphasizes experiential learning. The College's mission is to guide students to become skillful and reflective practioners, lifelong learners, and active citizens engaged in fostering a just, humane society and sustainable, beautiful communities.
Recognized in 2013 by US News & World Report for it's high rate of student internships, the College believes thatexperiential learning is critical to employment at graduation and beyond. Burlington College works with high schools to deliver dual enrollment and early college options and offers certificate, associate, bachelor, and master degrees.
About Vermont HITEC
Vermont HITEC and Burlington College are partners under the newly formed Institute for American Apprenticeships. Vermont HITEC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to recruit, educate, and apprentice unemployed and underemployed Vermont and New Hampshire residents in the fields of healthcare, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and business services. Vermont HITEC, through its education and registered apprenticeship programs, has directly placed over 1200 successful graduates into full-time positions with its employer-partners, such as Allscripts, UVM Medical Center, Husky Injection Molding Systems, Vermont Information Processing, Triad Design Service, GE Healthcare, Dealer.com, Precyse Solutions, Hypertherm, Timken Aerospace, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and Clara Martin Center. To learn more about Vermont HITEC, please visit (www.vthitec.org).
About New England Institute for Teacher Education
The New England Institute for Teacher Education is a professional development company focused on helping teachers improve student learning. Courses are delivered in a hybrid fashion with intensive weekend instruction that bookends distance learning.
About Oplerno
Oplerno is an online global educational institution dedicated to transforming highereducation. Oplerno’s goals are to lower the cost of educationfor students, increase the quality and diversity of available programs, and furthereducational opportunitiesfor everyoneworldwide.
Community Kitchen Academy
Community Kitchen Academyis a Vermont Foodbank culinary job training program operated at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. Professional chefs teach unemployed and underemployed Vermonters marketable skills that prepare them for sustainable careers in the food service industry and help break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
Association for Anthroposophic Psychology
The Association for Anthroposophic Psychology (AAP) brings a psychology of soul and spirit to professional counselors, and to the general public, that incorporates the spiritual science of Anthroposophy and the discoveries of modern psychology, while also endeavoring to find ways in which this Anthroposophic Psychology can be, shared, applied, and integrated with mainstream psychology according to the needs of our times. This mission honors Dr. Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy and Dr. William Bento, champion of Anthroposophic Psychology in North America.