Harper College will be closed Wednesday, November 27 through Sunday, December 1 for Thanksgiving Break.
At Harper College, we believe in the power of collaboration to shape a stronger workforce
and thriving community. As a forward-thinking institution, we are dedicated to establishing
meaningful partnerships with employers and industry professionals like you. Together,
we can bridge the gap between education and industry, ensuring our students graduate
with the skills and knowledge that match your evolving needs.
Employers stand to gain numerous benefits by partnering with Harper. Partnerships offer a win-win situation, benefiting employers, students, faculty, and the College. Here are a few reasons why employers should be excited to partner with Harper.
Become a Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT) member today! By collaborating closely with Harper, employers can help to create cutting-edge, industry-driven programs that produce job-ready graduates, bridge skills gaps, and contribute to the regional innovative ecosystem. Industry professional support this effort by:
Harper's Innovation Accelerator is implementing new BILT advisory councils that engage technical executives, technicians, and other industry professionals to actively co-lead program focus and design.
The BILT model allows employers to be “co-leaders” with faculty continuing to serve as the education and curriculum experts. Faculty stays 100% in control of the curriculum. Employers focus on the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)/Knowledge Units (KUs), not classroom content. Faculty design the curriculum based on employer input and decide how and when to cover the entry-level skills the employers request. The BILT model simply keeps the educators better informed.
Your time commitment is an average of 5-6 hours per year!
We know your time is valuable and the BILT process makes very efficient use of your time with very structured meetings that start and end on time. There are 3-4 meetings per year depending on the industry sector. Every year, one of the meetings (hybrid format) focuses solely on validating and prioritizing a list of KSAs (note: Cybersecurity uses KUs). This ensures curriculum remains relevant and current. After the KSA/KU meeting, there is a virtual feedback meeting at which faculty provide feedback to employers regarding KSAs/KUs that were incorporated into the curriculum and which were not, if any. Faculty provide justification should that happen and those are discussed. This closes the curriculum loop with our BILT members. The other two meetings are hybrid and virtual format and focus on industry trends, program updates, and networking. These meetings will engage BILT members, faculty, staff, and students.
While it takes only a small amount of your time, the benefits to our regional workforce and economic development will be massive and you will be making multi-generational changes in students lives.
To address the massive shortage of qualified Cybersecurity job candidates in Northeast Illinois, Harper College is building an innovative business-led Cybersecurity and Information Assurance program funded by a $1.6 million grant from the Department of Labor. We are continuing to recruit new members for the Cybersecurity BILT. Please complete the contact form bleow if you are interested in being a part of this exciting new program.
To address the limited supply of skilled workers in Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing in Northeast Illinois, Harper is building an innovative industry-led AI with Cloud program funded by a $1.6 million grant from the Department of Labor. We are continuing to recruit employers, technical executives, technicians, specialists, and other industry professionals to join our AI/Cloud BILT. Please complete the contact form bleow if you are interested in being a part of this exciting new program.
To address the limited supply of skilled workers in Semiconductor Equipment and Nanotechnology in Northeast Illinois, Harper is building an innovative industry-led Semiconductor and Nanotechnology program funded by a $500,000 grant from the Department of Education and supported by Senator Duckworth's office. We are actively recruiting employers, technical executives, technicians, specialists, and other industry professionals to join our this BILT. Please complete the contact form bleow if you are interested in being a part of this exciting new program.
Harper is implementing BILT advisory councils across the College. Some areas and programs looking to create new curriculum or update existing curriculum to better meet employers needs using the BILT structure include:
Join Harper in transforming education and training, preparing a skilled workforce, and driving regional economic development. Together, we can build a brighter future for our students, your organization, and the entire community. If you are interested in participating in any of these BILTs, please contact us today!