Calbright College and Western Governors University (WGU) are both leading institutions of higher education focused on Competency-Based Education (CBE). This month they announced a new partnership where certificates earned at Calbright can be applied to credit towards some WGU degrees.
Shortly after the announcement, Calbright’s president and CEO Ajita Talwaker Menon appeared on The Rant podcast with Courtney Hills McBeth, Chief Academic Officer and Provost at WGU, to discuss how their institutions are innovating new, and complimentary, approaches to CBE to expand the pathways and options students have in their education and job skills journeys.
The Rant is hosted by Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president and CEO of the College Futures Foundation and former Chancellor of the California Community Colleges system.
Now 30 years old, WGU is a trailblazer in CBE, and perhaps the single largest college in the nation to use it as a model for providing more students access to higher education and career paths.
“I’ve been a fan of WGU since my time in DC (working at the Department of Education), and they’re the standard bearer for course-based CBE in baccalaureate and masters programs,” Menon said. “Their work has been critical.”
Calbright, by contrast, is one of the newest: Established just seven years ago by the California Legislature, it has quickly become a trendsetter in both CBE and adult online education as a whole in California and nationwide.
Calbright uses CBE to reach non-traditional students, particularly “stranded workers” who need the skills provided by higher education to improve their careers but for whom conventional higher education is inaccessible. Calbright is also focused on students who need flexibility in life – parents, caregivers, and those working while trying to upskill. Instead of offering traditional degrees, like most colleges including WGU, Calbright offers career-focused certificates in industry-valued skills that can be earned quickly.
“Where we’re headed with Calbright is really complementary (to WGU),” Menon said on the The Rant podcast. “Our starting point is in the shorter-term credentials space.”
Thus both Calbright and WGU use the CBE model to reach different populations – students who are looking for short-term certificates versus degrees – with different needs, creating very different approaches based on the same key innovations. But their approaches also complement one another, and support students who are looking for pathways that work for them and value their time, experiences, and goals.
“Different institutions are going to adapt CBE to their different needs and contexts,” McBeth said. Those differences matter.
These two leading CBE institutions are also very focused on career outcomes, workforce relevance, the use of new technology, and always – always – emphasizing the student experience.
