The business of higher education has been turned on its head. Still coping with the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, university and college leadership are being forced to reinvent how their institutions function going forward. Everything has to be examined including course curriculum, recruitment and enrollment strategies, technology implementation and training, and strategic partnerships with other institutions and associations.
Fierce Education is highlighting those higher education leaders that are rethinking their business models so we can spotlight their vision and help others through these challenging times.
Fierce Education Leader:
Eric Bing, Chancellor
Affiliation: The College of Health Care Professions
Being a Fierce Education Leader:
Eric Bing, Chancellor of The College of Health Care Professions (CHCP), is committed to improving course flexibility and upward mobility for working adult learners, which has been critical during the Covid-19 pandemic. CHCP is the largest provider of allied health education across the state of Texas, serving more than 5,000 learners and growing a network of more than 1,500 healthcare employer partners.
Under Bing’s leadership, CHCP has created a blended learning program intended to accommodate adult learners and their complicated schedules between work, daily life and classes. The blended learning program was first piloted at the CHCP McAllen campus, and scaled to all nine CHCP campuses in 2020 across four different nine-month, entry level stackable certificates.
Additionally, Bing and staff expanded the pipeline for additional students to gain in-demand jobs. During COVID-19, Eric and his team shifted the blended program to fully online and reshaped how certain skills are taught. The success of this program has demonstrated the potential for synchronous instruction to only be needed one day a week, making it even more flexible for parent learners and enabling more students to participate and complete. This past year during the pandemic CHCP graduated over 3300 students and placed 85% of the graduates.
The adaptation of the blended learning program demonstrates that an institution of higher education can deliver robust support services and achieve measurable and meaningful outcomes for learners in as little as nine months. CHCP’s metrics and approach for parent learners are starting to gain significant attention from higher education organizations and publications that reach innovators and leaders in the field. A key part of this attention is CHCP’s stackable programs which allow full transfer of credits of certificates into associates completion programs and the same for associates degrees to fully transfer into bachelor completion programs.
Bing, with the help of his team at CHCP has ensured that students continued learning safely amidst the pandemic and did not have their academic and professional career dreams put on hold. This included leveraging go-pros to conduct clinicals over zoom and renting out auditoriums in a local San Antonio movie theater that provided enough space to host class and keep in line with social distancing guidelines. CHCP continuously evaluates their programs and measures the success through improved student outcomes related to retention, graduation, certification, placement, and salary as well as employer need. The initial results of a 2018 case study conducted by McGraw-Hill found that the interactive and adaptive tools for learning lead to an increase of 13 percentage points in course passage rates and of over 18 percentage points in retention. Through quarterly reviews with CHCP employer partners, the college ensures that curriculum is aligned with their needs and that graduates are prepared for the demands of their job.
- When the pandemic began and shut down in-person instruction, CHCP did not miss a beat in providing flexible options for students immediately and shifting all classes online without missing a day of instruction. Eric oversaw a variety of innovative initiatives to help students get the in-depth learning, including providing faculty with GoPro cameras to conduct labs and instituting breakout sessions during longer sessions to encourage more active learning opportunities. They also conducted regular 1:1 student engagement to help learners navigate the complexity of the new and unprecedented situation.
- New partnerships with the local community such as the Santikos Entertainment movie theatre to turn auditoriums into classrooms so students could continue their hands-on clinical trainings while providing a new stream of income for the local theatre during unprecedented times.
- Bing and the CHCP team also budgeted funds to help support students enduring tough situations during the pandemic- offering temporary housing assistance, identifying employment for students, and providing groceries for those in need.
For more Fierce Education Leaders, see:
Fierce Education Leader: Dr. Samantha Clifford, Northern Arizona University
Fierce Education Leader: Dr. Joe Sallustio, Claremont Lincoln University
Also, to register for Fierce Education's "Higher Education Business & Leadership: Summer Edition" click here