Author: IBL News

IBL News | New York

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will offer career advancement opportunities through fully-funded college tuition to its 750,000 hourly American employees who have stayed over 90 days in the company.

To achieve it, the e-commerce giant will partner with 140 national and local universities and 40 other educational providers, following its Career Choice program, “designed to help frontline employees grow their skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere.”

The program will allow employees to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, earn industry certifications, build skills through English language proficiency and high school completion programs.

The Amazon employees will be able to take classes online, in-person at a local campus, or on-site in one of the more than 110 Career Choice classrooms located in fulfillment centers in 37 states.

The announcement, which took place last week, brings into the program schools, like Southern New Hampshire University, Colorado State University Global, Western Governors University, and National University.

Amazon is also partnering with GEDWorks and Smart Horizons to provide high school completion and GED preparation, Voxy EnGen and goFLUENT to provide English language proficiency training, and Outlier to provide college preparation courses. Amazon will provide these services for free to their employees.

Regarding this initiative, Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said: “Higher education is our nation’s most powerful engine of social and economic mobility, and this initiative will both expand access to postsecondary education and increase the number of learners who succeed in completing their degrees.”

Since its launch in 2012, Career Choice has provided education for 50,000 employees, according to the company. Career Choice is one of nine free skills training and education programs that Amazon offers to its employees as part of its Upskilling 2025 pledge, intended to train 300,000 employees after a $1.2 billion investment.

The Seattle – based company, said, “Career training is just one of the industry-leading benefits that Amazon offers to its team.” It added: “Amazon pays employees an average starting wage of $18 per hour, which is more than double the federal minimum wage, and provides comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, and additional benefits for employees and their families.”

IBL News | New York

Pluralsight (NASDAQ: PS) announced that it partnered with the Australian corporate education library Go1. No financial details were disclosed.

This deal essentially means that Go1 customers will have access to custom content from Pluralsight Skills to create learning paths for roles such as Software Developer, Security Professionals, and Agile leaders.

Both companies stated that they designed the offer with “the aim to address the global tech skills shortage, which continues to expand.”

The tech skills shortage affects over 85 million people, representing an estimated $8.5 trillion in lost annual revenue by 2030, according to research from Korn Ferry.

“Our partnership with Pluralsight creates a critical tech-skilling pathway for Go1 customers to experience the industry’s leading tech courses to join a future-ready workforce,” said Basem Emera, VP of Partnerships and Alliances at Go1.

Go1‘s centralized content library, with tens of partners, serves 3.5 million corporate learners. This company has raised over $280 million in funding from investors, including AirTree Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Larsen Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, M12, Our Innovation Fund, Oxford University, Salesforce Ventures, SEEK, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, TEN13, and Y Combinator.

IBL News | New York

China Communist Government’s regulatory crackdown on the nation’s for-profit education industry has resulted in over 200,000 people being laid off and $100 billion lost, according to an analysis by ClassCentral.com.

Last year, after a series of fines and restrictions, China’s Government ended up with a harsh regulation that marked the end of an era for the for-profit tutoring industry in China.

Education stock plummeted by 90% (as shown in the graphic below), and many companies went bankrupt.

This collapse also affected to stock prices of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Additionally, these measures impacted tens of millions of students from kindergarten through grade nine.
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IBL News | New York

A vulnerability on an app called GET Mobile allows opening remotely unlocked doors on campuses.

TechCrunch reported about it yesterday through a featured article titled “How a simple security bug became a university campus master key.”

This app, developed by CBORD, a technology company that brings access control and payment systems to hospitals and universities, fixed the bug last month, but some customers didn’t receive any notification, according to TechCrunch.

GET Mobile allows students at universities to pay for meals, get into events and even unlock doors to dorm rooms, labs, and other facilities across campuses.

Students found the vulnerability after examining the CBORD’s lists of commands available through its API.

They described it as a “master key” to his university — at least to the doors that are controlled by CBORD.

IBL News | New York

EdTech Territorium, with 9 million users, announced this week a partnership with non-profit Credential Engine to expand its business based on providing students lifelong records of achievement regarding competencies and skills.

Through this partnership, students on Territorium will be able to cross-reference their skills with Credential Engine’s free and open data standards.

Privately-held Territorium, founded by Mexican entrepreneur Guillermo Elizondo, seeks to help users eliminate their competencies and skills gaps towards desired jobs. “The disconnect between what students need to learn, what they know upon graduation, and what employers are looking for in candidates has gone on for too long,” he said.

According to the company, two of the products of this U.S. start-up, TerritoriumCLR (Comprehensive Learner Record) and TerritoriumSDW (Skills Digital Wallet), are “designed to increase gainful employment, employer interest, job offers, and improve the way students showcase their capabilities.”

The partnership Territorium – Credential Engine was presented during the IMS Digital Credentials Summit, in Atlanta, GA, this week by Kiko Suarez, VP of Higher Education & Workforce Development at Territorium. He highlighted the importance for K-12 and Higher Ed of increasing their connectivity in the entire ecosystem, including the labor market. He also depicted ways a student can use its digital wallets and corresponding CLR data to select courses, programs, and industry certifications and map courses to actual job opportunities.

Last year, Territorium close a deal with ETS to exclusively license content of the HEIghten Outcomes Assessment Suite, a tool for colleges and universities to measure student learning outcomes.

IBL News | New York

President Biden stressed his support for skills-based education, training, and hiring during his first State of the Union address yesterday.

“We’ll cut costs and keep the economy going strong by giving workers a fair shot, provide more training and apprenticeships, hire them based on their skills, not degrees,” he said.

Last week, the Biden Administration reiterated his commitment to creating pathways to the middle class for Americans, saying that people without a college degree were needlessly disadvantaged for good jobs, even when they have the skills and knowledge employers need.

To support skills-based hiring, the Biden Administration might use federal and procurement funding to hire based on skills rather than educational qualifications alone.

As an example, to date, the Biden Administration has developed paths for veterans and women to access good driving jobs.

“My Administration is supporting and challenging employers to move towards skill-based hiring, including through a new budget proposal to invest in skills-based hiring research tools and technical assistance,” he said on February 28.

The President’s support to skills-based education was cheered among the attendants at the IMS Digital Credential Summit, which took place this week in Atlanta, Georgia.

IBL News | New York

New York State announced yesterday the end of its mask mandate for schools, signifying the virus’ retreat.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the decision after consulting with public health and education officials. “My friends, the day has come,” she said.

“We will lift the statewide requirement based on all the data,” Hochul said. “However, there are some counties that have a higher rate of transmission. We will allow them to determine what is best for their county.”

The measure, which comes after two years of struggle against the COVID-19, will be effective this Wednesday, March 2.

The state’s decision does not supersede individual districts and counties, which can still impose mask mandates and other more restrictive measures.

New York City will follow the state’s example. The city will lift its indoor mask mandate for public school students on Monday, March 7, if the five boroughs continue to see a low level of COVID-19 risk, according to Mayor Erick Adams.

“Our schools have been among the safest places for our children since the beginning of the pandemic, and we will continue to make the proper public health decisions to keep our kids safe, including making masks available for any child or school staff member who wishes to continue wearing them,” Adams said in a statement.