Moving Employer Engagement from Outreach to Institutional Capacity
Publication Note: Moving Employer Engagement from Outreach to Institutional Capacity Guidebook released by UPCEA on June 2, 2026 Employer engagement is often treated as a discrete activity: convene an advisory board, ask employers to validate a proposed program, or respond to an immediate training request. But the strongest university-to-business partnerships are not built through occasional outreach. They depend upon an institution’s capacity to listen, coordinate, co-create, and sustain relationships over time. That premise sits at the heart of Expanding Institutional Capacity for Employer Engagement in Credential Innovation , a new UPCEA guidebook developed with support from Walmart. I had the privilege of helping lead this multi-year initiative as we explored how colleges and universities can move from well-intentioned but episodic employer engagement toward more strategic, sustainable collaboration. The guidebook introduces the U2B Design Framework, which brings together UPC...