Nation's network of micro and nano technology sector community colleges to join the National Talent Hub and support the expansion of NIIT Registered Apprenticeship Programs.
HANOVER, Md. and PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT), the leader in developing the nation's semiconductor talent pipeline, and the Micro Nanotechnology Education Center (MNT-EC), a network of community colleges that support the micro and nano technology sectors, announced a collaboration focused on workforce development for the semiconductor sector and nanotechnology-related industries.
With the agreement, MNT-EC colleges will have access to NIIT's National Talent Hub, which connects employers, education providers, jobseekers and individuals looking to improve related skills. Colleges will be able to use the Talent Hub free of charge to ensure courses align with industry requirements and give their students access to the service's job portal. The Micro Nano Technology Education Center is a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) national network of colleges and universities.
"The MNT-EC joining the National Talent Hub is exciting," said Mike Russo, President and CEO of NIIT. "After years of development and input from industry, academia and jobseekers, the Hub was finally released this year to ensure real-time connection between course providers, employers and jobseekers. It is powered by a dynamic database of industry required competencies that reflects the skills needed in ever-changing tech-based jobs. Having the MNT-ECs endorsement and use of the Hub will move us one step closer to the single, comprehensive, nationally integrated system that was envisioned."
Students enrolled in MNT-EC programs will be eligible for "learn-and-earn" opportunities through NIIT's Growing Apprenticeships in Nanotechnology and Semiconductors (GAINS) Registered Apprenticeship Program. NIIT has the exclusive, 5-year contract to expand the use of Registered Apprenticeships in the strategic supply chains of semiconductors and nanotechnology, which includes biomanufacturing, pharmaceuticals, clean energy, etc.
"We have supported the development of the National Talent Hub and worked with NIIT to ensure that it meets the needs of our community colleges and our mission to prepare students for successful careers in the semiconductor and nanotechnology fields", said Jared Ashcroft, the Center Director of the MNT-EC. "Our goal was to support the development of what would be a singular, national infrastructure that is able to ensure alignment between our course offerings and industry requirements and to connect our students with those employers. We believe that the National Talent Hub meets those objectives".
The National Talent Hub represents a decade long public-private effort developed to create a nationally integrated platform available to states and regions which bolsters the nation's talent pipeline. The partnership launch comes on the heels of an announcement on July 27th at the HI-TECH conference in Salt Lake City when the National Talent Hub was rolled out nationally to the NSF-ATE network of colleges and universities.
About the National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT)
The National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT) is a 501(c)(3) with a mission to identify roadblocks to innovation in strategic industry sectors – those important to the nation's security and global competitiveness - and ensure they are eliminated. Talent pipeline development is the major focus of NIIT, and through comprehensive industry engagement, NIIT is leading the deployment of a national strategy and infrastructure to broaden and build the talent pipeline for the semiconductor industry and strategic industry sectors. Through its National Talent Pipeline Development Initiative and the support of the federal government, NIIT has developed a comprehensive, nationally integrated approach that includes the alignment of programs K-12 through higher education and adult and veteran training, infrastructure to attract a broader population and improve access and connections to career and needed training, and the ability to scale to support the nation.
About the MNT-EC
The Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC) is an NSF-ATE national network of colleges and universities. The center was founded on the idea that working together to accomplish a greater goal will enhance the quality of education for our students who then become higher quality technicians for our industry. The center's mission is to grow the MNT technician workforce by fostering academic and industry mentorship between existing MNT partners and educators developing prospective community college MNT programs. The MNT-EC is focused on developing a coordinated national approach to advance MNT education, delivering professional development to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities, and conducting strategic outreach, recruitment and retention of traditional and underrepresented faculty/students.
About the National Talent Hub
The portal is the first of its kind, competency-based system that uses dynamic signaling from industry to inform NIIT's "Comprehensive Competency Standards Database" in real-time and advanced data analytics to provide comprehensive skills matching, gap analysis, as well as career and education mapping capabilities for individuals. As the nation's leader in semiconductor talent pipeline development, NIIT is deploying the National Talent Hub to support the semiconductor industry; however, the architecture was designed to support all strategic tech-based industries and their supply chains and is being expanded to be the nation's first integrated system. The National Talent Hub is a culmination of a decade-long evaluation and development period which included comprehensive industry engagement. It is the only solution of its type intended to broaden the talent pipeline by making tech-based careers, previously viewed as unattainable, accessible to underserved and underrepresented populations as well as creating a comprehensive means for returning military service members and their families to connect to and succeed in high-value careers in strategic industry sectors.
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