Guidelines for Corporate Partnerships

In today’s workforce culture, leaders and their employees need the constant horizon of best practices. Employees grow when the new ideas that local universities promote add to their managerial strengths. Soft skills are also necessary. Emotional intelligence. Collaboration. Listening. These are some of the characteristics and terms associated with professional expertise. Coding and mentoring are not only opposite projections of the personality but evidence of an integrated professional mind. What we know is that enriched approaches to life will also help create a balanced work culture.

To encourage this growth, Middle Georgia State University has prioritized adult education. The mission of Continuing Education is to offer educational enrichment and professional training programs that promote the values of life-long learning, cultural exploration, and career enhancement.

How Can MGA’s Department of Continuing Education Help?

Continuing Education (CE) works with outside partners to identify the direction of professional education for their organization. Based on consultation, we then help shape what this training experience will look like. Will this course be face-to-face or delivered online? Will this course be an afternoon or one month of Saturday morning interactions? With the help of our partners, we identify instructors who have the optimum background for an educational experience. Some instructors will also be the project managers who will build the curriculum from the ground up.

What do leaders need to know? What do new employees need to learn to become fully engaged in the mission? These kinds of questions guide how CE frames the outcomes of classes and seminars. We can develop certificates or one-time CEU credit. Managers need to be better writers; CE can provide one workshop or ten. Supervisors have to avoid the pitfalls of HR mistakes; we can develop training for this, too. From small projects to yearlong and multi-partner planning, training in project management can help any group work efficiently and within budget.

Getting Started

First, convene a few of your own people to develop two or three goals or outcomes. What do you want your people to know or do? How many employee-students will be in the first cohort? How long do you think the training should take? What level in your organization will this group represent? What is your budget for this training project? Then, type this in an email to . Dr. Kevin Cantwell will respond and establish a meeting time to discuss potential collaboration. If there are questions before these steps, call him at 478.929.6712. His office is at the Warner Robins Campus of Middle Georgia State University on the second floor of the Academic Services Building, located between the Robins Financial Credit Union and the Nola Brantley Memorial Library at 100 University Boulevard, right off Watson Boulevard.

Questions for Project Information Points

**Before initiating the training or coursework, these points will be built into a Course MOU and must be signed by MGA and its partner organization:

  • What are your goals and outcomes?
  • Have you brainstormed with your group to write these goals and outcomes?
  • Is this class part of a new mission or unit?
  • What is the mission of your organization or new unit?
  • Is there an organizational challenge this curriculum hopes to address?
  • Has anyone in your organization taken this course before?
  • Has anyone in your organization been trained as an instructor of this content?
  • Do you need to issue a certificate or transcript for this curriculum?
  • Will this training be an ongoing requirement?
  • How many of your team members will be enrolled?
  • How many meetings or online sessions would you expect this to involve?
  • Do you prefer or expect this class to be online, hybrid, or online in support of face-to-face interaction?
  • If face-to-face, will this be weekends or evenings?
  • Is summer a good time for your employees to receive this training?
  • Who is your legal point-of-contact to develop and sign the Course MOU?
  • Who is the primary contact person for this collaboration?
  • What is that person’s email address and phone number?
  • What role does that person have within your organization?
  • Will the instruction take place at your facility or at Middle Georgia State University?
  • Have you defined a budget?
  • Ideally, when will you need this curriculum to be in place?
  • Is it your intention to purchase, own, or lease the content of this course?
  • Have you thought about a role in interviewing the eventual instructor?

While the questions listed above are not comprehensive, they will go a long way in outlining the scope of a custom curriculum and providing your group and ours the necessary details of a successful educational partnership.

Department of Continuing Education of Middle Georgia State University. Sponsoring the Master Lecturers and Conversation Series.