Gateway Technical College has been selected to participate in a national effort by the American Association of Community Colleges to identify and develop a model for recognizable credentialing that can be used by students, colleges and employers nationally.
Gateway is one of 20 colleges selected for the Right Signals, an initiative to demonstrate a new credentialing model that recognizes many quality credentials to send the “right signals” to employers, students and colleges on the meaning of those credentials. Right Signals, supported by a grant from Lumina Foundation, targets the key credentials of degrees, certificates, industry certifications, apprenticeships and badges.
“Gateway is a recognized national leader in the awarding of industry recognized credentials,” said Gateway Technical College President and CEO Bryan Albrecht. “This collaborative grant will build upon some of the best practices in the country and strengthen workplace competency throughout all academic and technical programs.”
The highly diverse credentialing marketplace includes educational degrees and certificates, professional and industry certifications, apprenticeship certificates, digital badges and other micro-credentials and licenses to practice. In different ways, each of these items attests to what people know and are able to do.
“Students have many avenues to achieve the skills necessary for obtaining well-paying jobs in the current economy,” said Holly Zanville, strategy director at Lumina Foundation. “It is critical that these skills and credentials are universally recognizable to students, colleges, and employers.”
Walter G. Bumphus, AACC’s president and chief executive officer, notes the importance of the effort.
“Credentials and acquired skills are valuable to students and employers,” stated Bumphus. “This work has the potential to provide a national system of recognizable credentials across all sectors and users making it possible to quickly identify completed courses of study, learned skills, skill mastery, continuing education credits and other types of credentials.”
For more information on the national Right Signals initiative, please contact Martha Parham (202) 728-0200, Ext. 209, or mparham@aacc.nche.edu.