Coming together to move American manufacturing forward
The manufacturing industry has been an integral part of the American economy, but the auto industry's woes and fallout from the Great Recession have taken their toll on the trade. These factors have arguably helped lead to the need for and creation of partnerships like the recent alliance between University of Phoenix and the National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) non-profit, non-partisan, education and research affiliate, The Manufacturing Institute. Via the partnership, University of Phoenix will create a curriculum that fulfills the NAM-Endorsed Manufacturing Skills Certification System (SCS), which lays out guidelines for the certifications, aptitude and necessary educational achievements one should have for a career in the field.
Top educators at University of Phoenix expect the manufacturing partnership to be a great way to provide students with a curriculum that will play well both in the classroom and, later on, in the workplace.
“This unique alliance will provide an education with real-world relevancy that meets the needs for high-tech manufacturing—graduates will gain the knowledge and skills most needed in the manufacturing industry, both today and tomorrow,” said Dr. Brian Lindquist, Dean, University of Phoenix School of Business, in a press release announcing the partnership.
Leaders at The Manufacturing Institute are excited about the partnership's potential for growth in the area of technology and innovation.
"We are excited to partner with University of Phoenix to help better prepare the manufacturing workforce for the challenges of the 21st century," said Emily DeRocco, president of The Manufacturing Institute. "Innovation is the single most important driver of manufacturing business success, and an educated and skilled workforce determines a company’s ability to innovate. Jobs in manufacturing continue to require higher and higher levels of education and skills because technology is changing every facet of manufacturing operations. We must continue to respond to the demands for new skill sets so that manufacturers can continue to innovate and compete in the global economy.”
The alliance has been in place since last March and, as it heads into its one-year anniversary, University officials who work closely with the project say it has shown itself to be necessary and relevant for the institution on both an academic and business level.
"The partnership is actually and best understood as a formal academic alliance with The Manufacturing Institute," said Dr. Tim Welsh, Vice President of Academic Alliances for Apollo Group Inc. and University of Phoenix. "It has proven to be a notable implementation proof-point for Apollo’s overall B2B strategy on an industry level. From the clients' point of view, the alliance has enabled The Manufacturing Institute to broaden and diversify the range of educational pathways it can make available to NAM-member companies."
The inspiration for the alliance was born out of, in part, a substantial amount of research on the key components of maintaining—and boosting—American competitiveness in the manufacturing sector.
"Several studies conducted for NAM and for The Manufacturing Institute in 2009 [and] 2010 point to an educated and skilled workforce as a primary source of innovation and foundational to American manufacturing competitiveness," he explained. "As an indicator of just how important an educated and skilled workforce is to the sector, Apollo was invited to sit on The Manufacturing Institute Board of Trustees and the National Manufacturing Education Council. Apollo is the sole educational services provider on the Board of Trustees, joined by executives from major domestic and international manufacturing companies."
The future for the partnership between University of Phoenix and The Manufacturing Institute is a promising one, according to all accounts. Welsh says the alliance has been particularly advantageous for University of Phoenix students that are working learners and points out the significance of having classes molded around the industry's expressed needs and wants.
"From my point of view, I’d say a main reinforcing idea has been the benefit to University of Phoenix and working learners alike of aligning new University of Phoenix curricula to skills and competencies which have been defined and endorsed by an association on behalf of an entire U.S. economic sector—in this case, of course, manufacturing," Welsh said. "In their work during this alliance, Dean Lindquist and his team have taken care to align University of Phoenix curricula to several tiers of competencies deemed essential by NAM for successful careers in advanced manufacturing."
