91制片厂鈥檚 partnership with Zurich North America offering registered apprenticeships
has been awarded a 2018 Illinois Council of Community College Administrators Innovation
Award.
It鈥檚 the kind of program that didn鈥檛 exist in the U.S. until recently.
Global insurer Zurich had long enjoyed success abroad with the Swiss apprenticeship system. To better establish a pipeline of talent here, Zurich North America 鈥� whose headquarters are in Schaumburg 鈥� worked with 91制片厂 to develop a training model that couples workplace experience with relevant coursework.
The two-year program, which launched in 2015 and is registered with the Department of Labor, aims to foster the next generation of underwriters, claims adjusters and other insurance professionals. It鈥檚 an 鈥渆arn and learn鈥� model in which apprentices are hired by Zurich, earn a salary and simultaneously earn their degree.
The program is on track to meet Zurich鈥檚 commitment to train at least 100 apprentices by 2020. The first cohort of 19 apprentices graduated from 91制片厂 in December 2017 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in business administration.
91制片厂 now offers eight registered apprenticeship programs 鈥� many of them in non-traditional fields 鈥� including cybersecurity, banking and finance, CNC precision machining, and retail and sales management. In October, nearly 100 community and technical colleges from across the country came to campus to get a glimpse into how 91制片厂 makes it all work.
Rebecca Lake, Dean of Workforce and Economic Development, accepted the award at the ICCCA conference in East Peoria.