ImpactAlpha, October 30 – Private online university Southern New Hampshire University, or SNHU, and education non-profit LRNG, are merging to smooth the transition of adult leaners from the classroom to the workforce.
SNHU caters to traditional college students and adult learners. LRNG takes a different approach to education and workforce development altogether, offering digital “badges” that help learners land job interviews with LRNG’s partner companies or get settled into new jobs once they’ve completed a series of online lessons. LRNG offers its online classes in career skills, like computer science or design, and life skills, like financial literacy.
Collectively, SNHU and LRNG support about 180,000 learners, with LRNG serving 55,000 of them in 19 cities. The organizations are looking at establishing physical spaces in cities as a growth strategy, EdSurge reports. Birmingham, Ala. will be their first joint operation.
“Cities feel like the right level of granularity for us. You can go into a city and try to understand their particular workforce needs—more so than at the state level,” SNHU’s president Paul LeBlanc said.
The organizations are also looking at how LRNG’s badges could translate to course credits at SNHU.
