{"id":5706,"date":"2017-03-15T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=5706"},"modified":"2017-03-10T16:06:21","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T22:06:21","slug":"making-higher-education-affordable-and-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/making-higher-education-affordable-and-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Higher Education Affordable and Accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In February 2017, the House Education and the Workforce Committee invited Capella University CEO Kevin Gilligan to speak about innovation in education. The committee explored the challenges and opportunities in today\u2019s higher education landscape to help inform the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.<\/p>\n<p>Gilligan was one of four experts in higher education invited to address a panel of legislators. Capella\u2019s role as an educational innovator was discussed at length during Gilligan\u2019s testimony. It was followed by a series of questions from the committee.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Innovation in Four Areas<\/h4>\n<p>During his testimony, Gilligan highlighted four educational initiatives Capella Education Company focuses on that are designed to close the skills gap and provide the most direct path between learning and employment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capella.edu\/content\/capella\/en\/capella-experience\/flexpath\/\">FlexPath<\/a>. This unique and innovative direct assessment education model directly measures student knowledge and learning, rather than linking it to seat time and grades. Students can set their own schedule and pace. This personalized method offers the potential to save time and money while earning a degree.<\/li>\n<li>Capella\u2019s approach to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capella.edu\/capella-experience\/competency-based-education\/\">competency-based education<\/a>. Capella curriculum is aligned with industry needs identified by employers, professional associations, and accreditors. It\u2019s built by experts across a wide variety of professions to pinpoint employers\u2019 most desirable skills and knowledge and can be applied immediately in the workplace.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/rightskill.com\/\">RightSkill<\/a><sup>SM<\/sup>, a joint offering with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.careerbuilder.com\/\">CareerBuilder<\/a> to develop job-ready candidates in fields with significant talent shortage.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hackbrightacademy.com\/\">Hackbright Academy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/devmountain.com\/\">DevMountain<\/a>. These software engineering and coding schools are subsidiaries of Capella Education Company and teach students in-demand technical skills to help them find future employment in today\u2019s high-growth tech industry\u2014which often faces talent shortages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5707 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/03\/Gilligan_Testimony-798x460.png\" alt=\"Gilligan_Testimony\" width=\"798\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/03\/Gilligan_Testimony-798x460.png 798w, https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/03\/Gilligan_Testimony-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/03\/Gilligan_Testimony-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/03\/Gilligan_Testimony.png 998w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 98vw, (max-width: 1199px) 64vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the conclusion of the hearing, the committee\u2019s chair, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, specifically commended Capella for its work with competency-based education. Capella continues to help shape the future of competency-based education through work with the Competency-Based Education Network. Along with programs like FlexPath, RightSkill, Hackbright Academy, and DevMountain, Capella\u2019s innovations are creating choices in education to help adults meet their job and career goals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more about <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capella.edu\/capella-experience\/\"><em>Capella<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Capella CEO Kevin Gilligan recently spoke to the House Education and the Workforce Committee about challenges and opportunities in higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5706"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5711,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5706\/revisions\/5711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}