CUNY and the New York Jobs CEO Council Initiative
The City University of New York (CUNY) — Goal 1 Initiative CUNY and the New York Jobs CEO Council Initiative
CUNY and the New York Jobs CEO Council are addressing how to better align local New York City talent with over 20 of the fastest-growing occupations among 27 of the largest New York City employers. Through the initiative, CUNY is developing career- and industry-aligned curricula and work-based learning pipelines that prepare students for good internships, apprenticeships, and full-time jobs.
Beyond equipping students for the hiring process, CUNY is working with several Council member companies to create new micro-credentials and courses to empower students with in-demand skills needed for 21st century jobs. The overall effort will connect underrepresented students to training, credentialing, and work-based learning, with a goal of hiring of 100,000 students, at least 25,000 of them from CUNY, at the Council's member firms.
Having lifted generations of low-income New Yorkers into the middle class and beyond, CUNY’s singular academic quality and affordability set it apart as perhaps the most potent engine of social and economic advancement in the United States. Because of our vast reach and unparalleled ability to scale educational opportunities — from short-term certificates to doctoral degrees — CUNY is ideally positioned to prepare large numbers of diverse, adept New Yorkers to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity that the New York Jobs CEO Council initiative represents. We look forward to working with many of the largest employers in the City in applying theoretical learning to real-world contexts and building on CUNY’s historic mission of high-quality education and service to underserved students and immigrant communities.
Initiative Differentiators
By partnering over a 10-year period with industry leaders, CUNY is co-creating a variety of offerings alongside employers, including new micro-credentials, courses, and possibly degree programs that can be offered by multiple campuses. By doing this work in coordination with CUNY’s central office, the University will leverage employer and real time labor market feedback to help multiple colleges develop programs simultaneously. The partnership with the New York Jobs CEO Council is exciting in that it is a sustained and system-wide effort focused on more than 20 fast-growing occupations. The scale and scope of the partnership is unprecedented.
Key Interventions and Milestones
While this is a 10-year partnership, immediate goals include developing eight micro-credentials in collaboration between CUNY and the member firms that are connected to a minimum of 15 companies through interviews, internships or jobs; and enrolling at least 600 students by February 2021 and 2,000 students by September 2021. Future goals include collaborations between faculty and member firms to have internships that earn students credits toward their degrees or certificate programs, as well as a pilot program to increase CUNY internship recipients and set students up for success in high potential jobs. Additionally, students will be mentored by company professionals and micro-credential completers will be advantaged in the hiring processes for internships and jobs. In 2021, we will also pair four colleges with employers to revamp applied associate programs to include work experiences, apprenticeships and credentialing into programs to improve career alignment and pipelines for companies.
Expected Impact
Through the New York Jobs CEO Council, CUNY will foster active collaboration between higher education and businesses to better prepare students for 21st century skills, and improve recruitment. The overall effort will maintain a goal of hiring 100,000 students, at least 25,000 of them from CUNY, at the Council's member firms.
