82.1 F
San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Local Schools Build Corporate Career Pipelines

Universities and colleges in the Valley region have signed corporate partnership agreements with companies such as AEG, Amazon.com Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. to prepare students for their future careers – often at those same companies. Local schools including California State University – Northridge, California Lutheran University, California Institute of the Arts and the Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business and Management have corporate partnership programs in place. The schools work with both local companies and international corporations to provide in-class seminars, internship opportunities and scholarships. The programs help students land jobs with partnering companies but also give schools a competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded higher education marketplace. “We recognize that we are competing for high-prospect students,” said Rick Gibson, chief marketing officer at Pepperdine University. “These kinds of partnerships and alliances are ways to build a brand in a highly competitive market.” Staples Center classroom Starting this fall semester, Pepperdine, which ranks No. 2 on the Business Journal’s list of MBA Programs (see page 10) and has campuses in Malibu, Los Angeles and Encino, launched a partnership with Los Angeles sports and entertainment promoter AEG. As a part of the agreement, AEG opened a branded state-of-the-art classroom at the Staples Center in downtown L.A. for undergraduate and graduate students in the school’s sports and entertainment management program. There, they receive hands-on training from AEG professionals in event promotion, operations and marketing. “The goal was not just to have signage on the ice,” Gibson said of the agreement. Gibson added that demonstrating how these sponsorship programs help Pepperdine alums find jobs is a big selling point for prospective students and their parents. Through an existing internship program with AEG, the school has placed around 10 students in full-time positions with the company. “We see there is a market for our students should they get the right kind of training,” Gibson said. “We’re trying to connect not only with the scholars (data analysts and researchers) in the field but also the practitioners.” For AEG, the partnership creates a pipeline of potential employees who have already received training from the company. “It’s an opportunity to get some younger talent and shape those younger professionals into the next wave of the sports and entertainment world,” Jon Werbeck, vice president for global partnerships, told the Business Journal. Werbeck described the classroom at Staples Center as a “working laboratory” where students can learn from AEG professionals. For those interested in venue operations, he pointed to Staples Center President Lee Zeidman as a possible guest speaker. In the other direction, the deal gives AEG employees the opportunity to take MBA courses at Pepperdine’s various campuses. “We’re really looking forward to taking the next step,” said Werbeck. “They have satellite campuses around the world where we have an AEG presence.” At CSUN, which ranks No. 1 on the Business Journal’s Colleges & Universities list (see page 12) and No. 5 on the MBA Programs list, companies including Amazon, Apple Inc. and Autodesk Inc. have partnered with the school to provide new technology and specialized training on campus. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is another major sponsor, providing equipment and financial support for student films as well as internships. In addition, Farmers Insurance Group sponsors a course taught by Farmers executives at its University of Farmers campus in Agoura Hills. “One of the great benefits of being in L.A. is the rich and diverse economic environment,” said Robert Gunsalus, vice president for university advancement. “There are leading companies in nearly every sector that are our neighbors and partners.” Academic debate Corporate sponsorship programs are not without their critics, who argue the partnerships amount to a commercialization of education that is at odds with universities’ traditional student-development goals. “(Partnerships) create semi-exclusive hiring arrangements between a university and its corporate partners – a new model that is at odds with the decades-long professional orientation of career centers,” wrote Daniel Davis and Amy Binder, researchers at the University of California – San Diego, in a study published in the journal Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Gunsalus, however, says CSUN has an obligation to students with companies in prominent industries. “As a main supplier of the workforce of the 21st century, it’s critical for CSUN to partner with companies that our students are going to work for,” he said. “We would be doing our students a huge disservice if we weren’t engaged with our partners across L.A.” Lynda Fulford, associate vice president for university relations at Cal Lutheran, which ranks No. 1 on the Business Journal’s MBA Programs list and No. 10 among Colleges & Universities, said she is constantly working to connect the business community with the university. She helps coordinate the school’s popular Corporate Leadership Breakfast Series, which features sponsors including Montecito Bank, Wells Fargo and Limoneira Co. The Business Journal is also a sponsor. “A student may sit with someone from Montecito Bank who might ask them to go to lunch sometime,” she said. “And from there they find a mentor or a job.” Fulford added that the networking events often lead to partnership programs and the creation of academic advisory boards. Both Pepperdine and Cal Lutheran hold similar events to engage with business leaders. For Gibson at Pepperdine, continuing to identify corporate sponsors will be a top priority. “AEG is our first but I don’t think it will be our last,” he said. “We have to find new ways to energize the brand and to be competitive.”

Featured Articles

Related Articles