It was a first at Rhode Island College.
At the start of the spring semester, the college started offering a fully online degree – a bachelor of professional studies. The program, which features flexible class schedules and a discounted tuition, caters to adult learners who often must balance work, family and school.
But the new online degree program also marks the latest step in a yearslong effort among state education leaders to develop ways to make higher education accessible to more Rhode Island residents while also matching training programs to the skills that the employers need in their workers.
Jenifer Giroux, assistant vice president for professional studies and continuing education at RIC, has been part of that effort.
She says while it’s been difficult to obtain funding for programs that make education classes more affordable and easier to attend for underserved groups, that is changing under initiatives such as RIC’s online degree program and a proposal for a “higher ed academy” that would enroll more than 1,000 Rhode Islanders during a three-year program to gain skills to earn a degree or a credential.
The academy plan is a key part of the economic and workforce development package in Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s 2023 state budget proposal. McKee has recommended spending $22.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to create the academy.
Giroux, along with Amy Grzybowski, an assistant commissioner in the R.I. Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, and Tekla E. Moquin, associate vice president of the division of workforce partnerships at the Community College of Rhode Island, says they had already been laying the groundwork for an education system that allows everyone a chance at earning a degree or advanced credential in fields that are in demand.
“We now have the foundation to springboard the education academy – to help us pool our resources to meet students where they are while meeting employer demand,” Giroux said.
Grzybowski says McKee’s academy plan expands on the R.I. Reconnect program launched by the postsecondary commissioner’s office in August 2020. The program links working-age adults to educational opportunities through its new online portal. Job seekers in the program fill out an online assessment to be connected with a “navigator,” who will serve as a personal coach throughout their educational journey.
“We’re going to supercharge the program,” Grzybowski said, including adding child care assistance, English language coaching, and foreign credential evaluation. “There are many different services we hope to provide so they are successful.”
Grzybowski knows about workforce development, having led the creation of the Westerly Education Center, which has turned out more than 5,000 trained people since 2017.
The center was proposed by former Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, who pledged in 2016 that the state’s goal was to have 70% of working-age Rhode Islanders holding a degree or credential of value by 2025 to meet the needs of a changing job market.
The Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner said nearly half of Rhode Island’s adult population still lacks the degrees or credentials that are needed to enter the workforce in well-paying jobs.
Grzybowski said that since 2017, she, Giroux and Moquin have been in constant contact, pooling their resources and working with the state’s educational institutions on workforce development programming.
“Between the three of us we have a lot of synergy, and there is a lot of work to do so we have to have that synergy,” she said.
That work includes expanding on the state’s workforce development programs, such as the Westerly Education Center, Woonsocket Education Center, the RIC Workforce Development Hub in Central Falls, and Rhode Island Nursing Education Center. With more facilities and programs in underserved communities, the greater the educational reach the state has, Grzybowski says.
The RIC hub in Central Falls hosts workforce training featuring programming offered by CCRI. Both offer for-credit courses and certificate-based training at Westerly Education Center and soon at the Woonsocket Education Center. The Rhode Island Nursing Education Center in Providence is a facility shared by both the RIC School of Nursing and the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing.
“We need to provide a pathway to careers,” said Grzybowski, noting that Real Jobs Rhode Island, a workforce development program run by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, assists in this effort. “Together with Jenifer and Tekla, we bring employers to the table and create a conversation with them to ensure we are creating programs that will deliver people to jobs.”
Moquin says CCRI works to develop employer-worker relationships with its Division of Workforce Partnerships program, which offers courses in business and technology, education, health care, manufacturing and trades, and renewable energy.
She said no matter how well the educational system has evolved, they have been looking ahead, working on strategies to improve access to workforce training and education for Rhode Islanders.
“There are relatively new industries coming to the region that we are going to want to be responsive to, such as the offshore wind industry,” said Moquin, noting that the system’s programming that provided trained workers for General Dynamics Electric Boat will also apply to the needs of the renewable energy sector.
Moquin says the team will also continue to focus on the health care field, the digital economy and some other areas to meet employer needs.
“We are incredibly grateful for the work that we’re doing to see the successes of our students,” she said. “And there is still so much work to be done.”
(Update: Corrects Tekla E. Moquin's title in seventh paragraph.)
