Dive Brief:
- Coding bootcamps are beginning to pair with traditional universities to offer their same lower-cost certification programs through institutions with stronger reputations, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
- For the bootcamp companies, which became the targets of employer skepticism recently, partnering with traditional universities offers more "legitimacy" and the benefit of a bigger, more trusted brand.
- For the institutions, the pairing increases capacity to train students in marketable skills, thus boosting alumni's chances of finding employment after graduation.
Dive Insight:
Coding bootcamps were projected to disrupt the entire higher education enterprise when they burst on the scene five years ago. As it turns out, however, some top employers are hesitant to accept them as a viable replacement for the college credential. Still, bootcamp programs yield high returns for diversity, as their shorter, lower-cost programs encourage more women and underrepresented minorities to enroll. And when paired with a college credential, they provide a valuable way to demonstrate competencies to potential employers and have led to increased job potential.
Partnerships between traditional and nontraditional institutions seem a win-win for both groups, and may be the wave of the future as both types of education providers struggle to defend relevance in an oversaturated market. Whether it is partnering with for-profit institutions to expand online course offerings to students, or just simply building clearer pathways between certificates and the bachelor's degree, institutions that manage to offer new ways to reach an increasingly older student demographic will weather the storm, leaving those that fail to adapt to the unique needs of these students to likely struggle.
