Franklin Pierce University: bridging the gap between academia and the job market

After building the highly-regarded health sciences program in 2012, producing students in great demand, FPU has turned its sights on generating more and more graduates who can slide easily into other workforces.

COLLABORATION WITH BUSINESSES

Highlighting that strategy is the C&S Scholars programs, just getting off the ground, with the goal of embedding students in the Keene-based food giant through job shadowing and internships. This February, the first students will apply for the FPU-C&S program, and, if it works as the partners expect, it will be a validation of what can happen between agile educational institutions and businesses facing frustrating employee needs.

“There’s a shortage of talent (for area businesses),” says Mary Ann Gaal, associate professor of management in the business school at FPU. “How can we provide that talent for them?”

The C&S program, in which 10-15 students may enter each year, begins with job shadowing at the company in their sophomore term. As juniors, the participants will take a three-credit internship through the program, followed by nine-credit intensive internships when they are seniors. The senior commitment is essentially a co-op program in which the students work significant hours at the company in various disciplines.

“The hope is a number of them will be offered a full-time position,” says Gaal, and that “they will be lured to stay in the area.”

How many will be hired? Gaal hopes at least three to five each year, but the outcomes are three years away.

“It’s kind of our beginning,” she says of this in-depth approach to assisting local businesses. “In the long term, we’d like to take the program and duplicate it for other positions in the area.”

FPU and C&S have had an internship relationship for two years, and the company just hired two of the university’s May graduates, but “Scholars” represents a greater commitment.

PAID INTERNSHIPS

Gaal sees opportunities in the accounting field for this approach, also cybersecurity. Seizing market opportunities feeds the school’s renewed focus on its own sustainability.

“We can be more nimble,” she says of the 1,500-student university. “Many of us, we came from business backgrounds. We like to do more than we like to talk about (doing).”

Gaal was, for 13 years, the capital construction manager for the University System of New Hampshire, a career with a decided business bent. She knows the demands of industry and the need for skilled employees. It’s a conversation that occurs regularly among her peers.

“How do you keep students who are clamoring for Boston, keep them here,” she says.

Jobs, for one.

A requirement of the 400 students in the business school is that they take a paid internship with a company, so at any one time, there are 70 or so FPU business interns active.

Locally, FPU students have completed internships at New Hampshire Ball Bearing; Monadnock Community Hospital; Oster & Wheeler, Home Healthcare, Hospice and Community Service; Summerhill Assisted Living, Anderson & Gilbert and others.

National statistics suggest high job placement rates among those who take part in paid internships. In 2012, 60 percent of paid interns got a job offer from their internship source, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Unpaid interns did not do as well with only 36 percent getting job offers. The higher success rate is one reason FPU requires students obtain paid programs.

Most colleges and universities have internship programs, strive to make connections with businesses and cater to the changing employment marketplace.

MEETING THE DEMAND

But often there can be internal struggles or resistance to adjust curriculum quickly to meet job needs. Chasing the “hot jobs” can be frustrating and disruptive. It requires a balance between sticking with an institution’s academic mission and the obligation to turn out employable graduates who can earn enough to pay off college debts.

Kim Mooney, Ph.D., president of FPU, sees the importance of the latter as it relates to FPU’s future.

A goal, she says, “is to graduate really good students who are in demand.”

An institution that regularly meets this objective is one that will thrive.

She, too, spoke of the health science program and the “creation of educational partnerships with hospitals and municipalities” as being a marked success.

Beyond traditional four-year programs, FPU is pursuing micro-credential opportunities, which are innovative approaches to burnish one’s experience and expertise — at a reasonable cost.

For example, someone in business looking for marketing training might take three to four courses through the FPU, packaged in an efficient and useful way. A “credential” in marketing would accompany the completion of these courses, providing an immediate benefit for the student and his or her employer — and in a short timeframe.

FPU is generous in providing credit to incoming or adult students for academic, life and work experience, Mooney says. The university is mindful of meeting the prospective student with terms that provide the best chance for success in today’s dynamic job market.

“If you’re a college or university, there is a responsibility to be paying attention,” Mooney says.

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