Partnerships between higher education institutions and employers are increasingly useful in addressing talent development in key job categories. Partnership agreements are especially prevalent in areas such as data science, digital technologies, nursing, programming, and renewable energy.

Employers partner with higher education institutions often as a strategy for recruiting talent in different geographic areas of the country, and recruiting talent to diversify their workforce, especially focused on race/ethnicity, gender, age, and disability diversity.

Agreements are typically struck between higher education institutions and employers through a formal partnership.  Employers may commit to hiring a certain percentage of graduates in one or more disciplines while institutions commit to increasing their number of graduates in various disciplines.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, three prevalent types of partnerships include:

• Workforce Planning. The partnership forecast talent baselines —the number of expected graduates in various disciplines and the number employers expect to hire in those disciplines. The partnership identify and prioritize the “hard and soft skills” that these graduates need.
• Academic Program Design. The partnership codesigns the curriculum and jointly appoint faculty for programs of interest. They also determine the number and purpose of employer-sponsored internships and applied training programs; the facilities, labs, faculty, and support services needed to accommodate increasing numbers of students; and joint research and innovation hubs that involve students.
• Student Recruitment. The partnership outlines the steps needed to increase the number of graduates; e.g., conducting market research on targeted student populations, securing funding for student financial assistance, and recruiting students.