HCHE allows students to experience a broader range of learning
[Photo | Steve Wang ]
Hartford Consortium for Higher Education board members (shown above) celebrated the group’s 47th anniversary in 2019.
[Photo | Wallace Black ]
Students participate in a Hartford Consortium for Higher Education panel discussion.
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At the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, it’s all about collaboration.
With a roster of 12 members that include 10 institutions of higher education and two affiliate organizations, the consortium facilitates the sharing of college resources by allowing academic cross-registration and creating educational initiatives that promote career readiness. It also promotes both cultural and educational opportunities in the Hartford region, helping students to get to know the city better, and vice versa.
“We are trying to increase the footprint of students in Hartford,” said Sue Harris, director of marketing and communications at the organization.
Programs like “Art After Dark” events for college students at the Wadsworth Museum, and college nights at Hartford’s TheaterWorks and Hartford Stage are aimed at showing the 36,000 students that the collaborative represents the wealth of cultural, dining, and other attractions in downtown Hartford.
Yes, it’s about creating a meaningful, fun experience. But the impact can go deeper, Harris explained, showing students that the city is an excellent place to find work and plant roots post-college.
And that’s important to the consortium’s overarching goal of helping students in its member educational organizations achieve success while attending college – and after.
Each spring, the consortium holds a large Multi-Campus Career and Internship Fair, allowing local businesses to meet and recruit talented students who are available for full-time and part-time roles.
Harris said that by acting as a resource on multiple levels, from culture to careers, the organization has become a “hub in the community.”
“Students are saying that they can’t find jobs, but we know of these great opportunities,” she said. “Meanwhile, employers are looking to fill roles and we are trying to find a solution to that pressure.”
“I think these events help us understand that employers and universities in the consortium are really interested in the same thing, which is making sure there is a good match between students’ career goals and employers’ needs for talent and their workforce,” said Rhona Free, who chairs the consortium’s board of directors and is president of the University of Saint Joseph.
Allowing students to enroll in programs at other consortium colleges plays a huge role in education overall, as well as career-readiness, she said. The chance to learn a language that a student’s current school doesn’t offer, for example, or enrolling in Computer and Data Science classes at the University of Saint Joseph, which recently added the program to meet current job predictions in the state, can fill in gaps and help students achieve their goals without additional financial strain.
Free said another crucial step in linking students to the community where they work and learn is encouraging them to get involved with local service opportunities – like the Malta House of Care, a mobile medical unit that provides free, quality health care to uninsured adults in the Greater Hartford region.
The consortium extends this work to younger students, too. Its junior apprentice program links teens in local high schools to apprenticeship programs, and its Career Beginnings program connects high schools, businesses, mentors and parents in an effort to increase the number of teens who graduate from high school, pursue higher education and fulfill their career goals. The “Voices of Hartford Success” annual essay contest showcases the resilience of Hartford youth as they strive to go to college and lead successful lives, despite sometimes facing serious obstacles.
Creating partnerships that link community, students and local businesses clearly yields numerous results. They help to strengthen the Greater Hartford region and set its younger population up for success, while providing the impetus to keep these collaborations going.
“What we want is to be inviting and accessible to students of all socio-economic backgrounds, making sure every student has the ability to attend a college that is a good match,” said Free. “We have a role to play, so that when they graduate, they can get a job, pay their students loans, and live the life they want to live.”
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