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National Institute launches state-of-the-art portal to broaden the talent pipeline by connecting individuals and those from underrepresented populations to careers, Registered Apprenticeships and educational resources needed to succeed - open access to be provided to NSF-ATE national network of colleges and universities

SALT LAKE CITY, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference (HI-TECH), the National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT), a non-profit charged with developing a national strategy and infrastructure to build the talent pipeline for strategic industry sectors, announced its state-of-the-art National Talent Hub. The National Talent Hub represents a public-private effort developed over the past several years to be a nationally integrated platform available to states and regions to help develop the nation's talent pipeline. HI-TECH is a national conference supported by the NSF-ATE program on advanced technological education where attendees can update their knowledge and skills.

The portal is the first of its kind, competency-based system that uses dynamic signaling from industry to inform the NIIT's "Comprehensive Competency Standards Database" in real-time and advanced data analytics to provide comprehensive skills matching, gap analysis as well as career and education mapping capabilities for individuals. As the nation's leader in semiconductor talent pipeline development, the NIIT is deploying the National Talent Hub to support the semiconductor industry; however, the architecture was designed to support all strategic tech-based industries and their supply chains and will be expanded to be the nation's first integrated system. 

The National Talent Hub is a culmination of a decade-long evaluation and development period which included comprehensive industry engagement. It is the only solution of its type intended to broaden the talent pipeline by making tech-based careers, previously viewed as unattainable, accessible to underserved and underrepresented populations as well as creating a comprehensive means for returning service members and their families to connect to and succeed in high-value careers in strategic industry sectors.

The Talent Hub was developed with the support of the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education program (NSF-ATE) and in partnership with U.S. Department of Labor Education and Training Administration (USDOL-ETA), SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and industry representatives from companies throughout the semiconductor industry supply chain. National and regional scaling will begin by offering no-cost participation to the NSF-ATE network of community colleges and universities. Some of the benefits for participating colleges and universities include:

1. Dynamic alignment with industry requirements, ensuring real-time alignment with the ever-changing job requirements of industry
2. Offering more value to students
   • Students can verify that courses and programs align with requirements for target jobs and industries.
   • Students can establish validated lifelong learning profiles which build as they acquire more work experience and academic related training and experience.
   • Students can visually map out strategic career and educational pathways based on their current and target skills profile.
   • Students can use the Hub to assess, align, and promote their skills and connect with employers in a manner unique to the National Talent Hub.
   • Students can enter target fields through "learn and earn" Registered Apprenticeship Programs and then advance career learning and obtain degrees in order to "ladder up"
3. Increased enrollment – Specific courses become more visible to students who will be directed to programs based on their career choices and the need to skill, upskill and reskill.
4. Improved visibility to employers who will know which programs meet their needs.

In addition, participating colleges become a part of the NIIT's network of colleges who offer training as a component of the NIIT's exclusive national U.S. Department of Labor contract to lead the development of Registered Apprenticeships throughout the nanotechnology / semiconductor sectors. The National Talent Hub and related infrastructure is supporting the NIIT's GAINS program – "Growing Apprenticeships in Nanotechnology and Semiconductors". Employers participating in GAINS will also benefit by no-cost access to the Hub.

"As GF hires for our future growth and expanding business, we have defined many pathways for entry into the semiconductor industry. Through Registered Apprenticeships, internships at the community college and university levels, as well as a focus on Veteran hiring and recruiting underrepresented groups, the National Talent Hub will serve to give us greater visibility into qualified candidates who otherwise may be unfamiliar with our industry," said Peter Benyon, SVP and General Manager of GlobalFoundries Fab 8.

"The National Talent Hub provides community college semiconductor education programs a unique and valuable resource to ensure course alignment with industry requirements and prepare the future semiconductor workforce. The Hub helps strengthen the partnerships between industry and higher education to increase the success of a more diverse student population in what is a broader range of career opportunities", said Jared Ashcroft, a Chemistry professor at Pasadena City College and the Center Director for the Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC), a national network of colleges focused on developing the talent pipeline in support of the microelectronics and nanotechnology sectors.

"Collaborating with the NIIT in the development of the National Talent Hub has ensured that functionality specifically designed for colleges and universities has been fully integrated into what is a completely unique tool. The Talent Hub's state-of-the-art architecture ensures that college and university courses can be easily aligned with industry requirements and continually adjusted to match industry needs, automating the industry engagement process. This is the first tool of its kind designed for open access to educators, employers, and individuals and will help ensure students taking courses in the Hub are relevant and are connected directly to careers. This is a great value proposition we can offer prospective students", said Robert Geer, Professor of Nanoscale Science at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.

"After years of development, comprehensive industry engagement and user testing, we are thrilled to be able to announce the national deployment of the Talent Hub," said Mike Russo, President and CEO of the NIIT. Of the many general career matching services that exist, none offer all of the capabilities of this system, which was designed to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry and broader nanotechnology related fields. The National Talent Hub was designed to support a national strategy and regional ecosystem development and while we are very pleased with the outcome, it is also designed to be continually improved through real time input from individuals, employers and course providers."

The NIIT is a 501(c)(3) with a mission to identify roadblocks to innovation in strategic industry sectors – those important to the nation's national security and global competitiveness - and ensure they are eliminated. Talent pipeline development is the major focus of the NIIT, and through comprehensive industry engagement, the NIIT is leading the development of a national strategy and infrastructure to broaden and build the talent pipeline for the semiconductor industry and strategic industry sectors in general. Through its National Talent Pipeline Development Initiative and the support of the federal government, the NIIT has developed a comprehensive, nationally integrated approach that includes the alignment of programs K-12 through higher education and adult and veteran training, infrastructure to attract a broader population and improve access and connections to career and needed training, and the ability to scale to support the nation. In addition, the NIIT is under contract with the USDOL to develop and expand innovative Registered Apprenticeship programs throughout the nation within the strategic supply chains within the semiconductor industry and nanotechnology sectors.

SOURCE National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT)