As we emerge from the Great Recession, colleges and universities across the United States must adjust their approaches to preparing graduates for the leaner, more efficient economy left in its wake.

This collective rethinking of the competencies and knowledge bases that students will need to succeed in 21st-century careers will do little, however, to help those students who graduated in the midst of the global economy’s recalibration.

According to the Educational Advisory Board, almost 1.5 million college graduates who completed degrees between 2008 and 2012 are unemployed or underemployed. Often called the “lost class” by pundits, many of these young men and women have accepted positions that are poorly matched to their career aspirations.

Now more than ever, young professionals need a bridge to help them make the transition from campus leader to workplace leader. This challenge presents a unique opportunity for innovative thinkers from the fields of higher education and business to collaborate.

The University of New England and Bangor Savings Bank are embarking on one such initiative: a partnership to develop a program of essential workplace competencies for new and recently hired bank employees.

A team of educators, instructional designers and banking professionals from both institutions is leading the program’s development and implementation. The goal is to help the next generation of financial professionals acquire and demonstrate essential workplace skills. Through coursework in often-neglected subject areas like change response, conflict management and strategic leadership, students in the program will receive training in how to be leaders and role models in the workforce.

The seeds for this innovative program were planted more than a year ago when UNE was selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to participate in the foundation’s Breakthrough Models Incubator initiative. As one of a select few institutions nationwide chosen to receive Gates funding through this program, UNE was charged with developing new models of competency based higher education programming.

Shortly thereafter, in a meeting to discuss ways in which competency-based education might enhance the Maine workforce, Bangor Savings Bank asked UNE to consider developing a new educational program for the company’s emerging leaders. UNE embraced the challenge to help prepare current and future members of Maine’s workforce for the rapidly evolving demands of the 21st-century economy.

Only six months later, what began as a seemingly simple request has resulted in a comprehensive training program that will simultaneously enhance the competency of Bangor Savings Bank employees and positively shape the career trajectories of workers and young people across the state of Maine.

We believe we are charting a new course by which educational institutions and private business will collaboratively accelerate the development of skilled business leaders in the state for years to come.

The two-year Essential Workplace Competencies Development Program will welcome employees new to Bangor Savings as well as emerging leaders already with the company. The program will leverage UNE’s expertise in using the latest technology and educational models to deliver engaging curricula.

The young professionals in the program will rotate through various banking departments, shadowing other employees and learning the processes of each department. Simultaneously, they will receive competency-based education instruction through the UNE College of Graduate and Professional Studies, mastering competencies in leadership, business communication, teamwork and agility and resiliency in the workplace.

The program will be presented through a series of fast-paced, hybrid learning modules. Each learning module will begin with a seminar that introduces students to the module’s objectives.

The most immediate outcome of this collaboration will be the development of Bangor Savings Bank’s next generation of company leaders. The professional training tools developed through the project will also benefit University of New England students, complementing the excellent career preparation they already receive.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the project will demonstrate the skills and capacities that can be brought to bear when forward-thinking educators and business leaders pool their organizations’ resources to solve a societal problem.

Our combined investment in this single and unique program is an investment in the development of Maine’s workforce that can only have a positive impact across companies, industries and communities.

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