BY ONOME AMUGE
Nexford University, a Washington DC-based next-generation university, has initiated a career coalition programme in partnership with major employers in Africa targeted at bridging gaps between employers and the university to the benefit of talent across the world.
Initial members of the career coalition include leading employers such as Allianz, Sterling Bank, Venture for Capital, Eva Pharma, Hassan Allam Holding and Mono, an open banking fintech company.
The university described members of the coalition programme as forward-thinking employers committed to leveraging education to drive business performance.
The employers, it added, recognise the value of upskilling and reskilling their team members, in addition to the value of partnering with universities to recruit qualified entry-level talent.
Employers participating in the programme will share data about their workforce and skill gaps with Nexford, which the university will use to design tailored pathway programmes for learners to acquire the ideal skill sets that best fit with the needs of partner employers.
The career coalition compliments Nexford’s continued global expansion, and commitment to solving the world’s biggest employer challenge – skills, and bridging the gap between learners and employers, while enabling social and economic mobility through high quality yet affordable American education, 100 percent online.
Learners from select career coalition partners will be able to apply for partial and full scholarships when enrolling into one of the employer-focused pathway programmes to gain specific certificates or degrees.
In addition, current employees of partner companies will have the opportunity to be reimbursed for completing selected degrees with Nexford University on graduation.
The newly launched initiative is also expected to add value to Nexford’s already strong employer community particularly in the African continent, where hundreds of employees are already enrolled in the university’s recently launched Nexford for Talent (N4T) programme.
Commenting on the programme, Fadl Al-Tarzi, CEO of Nexford University, said it is designed to seamlessly integrate employer needs by creating more meaningful connections between employers and talent.
Al-Tarzi also stated that it will benefit learners, and employers, while reducing the amount of subjectivity that currently exists within the recruitment process, as well as the traditional learning and development process.
