College Credit for Professional Training Spans Nearly Four Decades

On the military page of this site, we mentioned that the American Council on Education (ACE) has evaluated professional training for the military since World War II. Similarly, professional training at corporations, private businesses, and corporations has been evaluated for college credit since the 1970's. Not only does ACE evaluate professional training of corporations and government agencies, but several other organizations, as well. These include the National College Credit Recommendation Service (CCRS) in New York and the Connecticut Credit Assessment Program (CCAP). In fact, nearly a thousand organizations have paid a considerable amount of money to have the agencies performing the evaluations gather teams of academic experts to examine their professional training and identify correlation to courses taught on college campuses in the same or similar subjects. We help students who have completed training that has been evaluated apply the college credit to degrees from colleges and universities across the nation.

Another way students receive credit for their professional training

Organization-wide Application of College Credit for Pro Training

Another option that a number of corporations have elected to pursue is that of engaging the support of colleges to perform Institutional Evaluation of their professional training using standards promoted by the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL) for Prior Learning Assessment, yet rather than the focus being on an individual, the credit is offered to anyone who has completed the training at the corporation. Recently, Wal-Mart made the news when they engaged the support of American Public University to evaluate the training their employees complete for college credit. Similarly, Excelsior College evaluated training at Tyson's Poultry for college credit. What Wal-Mart employees may not realize is that the credit they were awarded for the training by American Public University may be accepted in transfer by numerous colleges and universities across the nation, which we will discuss below.

College Credit Through Institutional Evaluation

In 2005, we were approached by a major corporation who desired institutional evaluation of their professional training for college credit. Since then, several other corporations have follwed in their footsteps, asking us to coordinate a review of their professional training for college credit for the benefit of their workforce.

We invited colleges and universities to evaluate the professional training for college credit at no cost to the corporations that requested our support. For example, we invited Southwestern College, Sullivan University, Mountain State University, Peirce College and others to evaluate the professional training at Yum University for their restaurant employees, resulting in more than 84 semester hours of college credit for the training evaluated in numerous subjects. For the technology and management courses requested by Diebold, we invited Upper Iowa University, Ashford University, Southwestern College, and Coastline Community College, resulting in more than 54 semester hours of college credit for their professional training. Not only has another of our clients, U.S. Airways, had their professional training evaluated through Institutional Evaluation, but we also have specially designed degrees for their workforce available to them through one of our participating colleges, Rio Salado College. We have coordinated the evaluation of professional training for other clients, as well, and offer this support to major corporations who desire to reward their employees with college credit for their professional training. As we mentioned above, we can arrange for this evaluation at no additional cost to the corporations - all that we seek is an opportunity to offer our assistance to their workforce.

Transfer of College Credit Awarded Through Institutional Evaluation

Of course, it is up to the receiving college to accept or reject the credit reflected on transcripts for students seeking to transfer to their organization. Some mistakenly presume that the credit awarded for professional training through institutional evaluation would be limited to our group of colleges and universities, yet that is not the case. When our participating colleges and universities award credit for the professional training that employees have completed, it is reflected on their transcripts showing a course number, course title, and the number of semester hours awarded. Perhaps that is why 73 % of the public colleges that responded to the survey sent out by CAEL in 2010 said they would award credit for professional training through institutional evaluation - that's nearly 3 out of 4 colleges expressing that they would accept the credit in transfer (see the chart below):

If you are an executive at a major corporation and would like for us to coordinate institutional evaluation of your professional training, please feel free to contact us. We welcome the opportunity to provide assistance.

We'll help you get the credit you deserve

College credit for professional training at corporations and government agencies

If you have completed professional training at a corporation or government agency, we will help you explore the opportunity to receive college credit for your adult learning experiences. We'll check the list of the hundreds and hundreds of organizations that have had their training evaluated by ACE, PONSI, or CCAP and see if the one you work for has had their training evaluated for credit. If so, we'll have you get in touch with them to see if the specific training that you completed is eligible to receive college credit. If you work for one of the organizations that has had their professional training assessed for college credit through institutional evaluation, we'll help you get the credit you deserve, as well. If you have completed extensive training that has not yet been evalauted for college credit, you may be a perfect candidate for Prior Learning Assessment. We are here to help you explore each of these options, as the results could get you one step closer to degree completion.