Partnership: The Key To Graduate Health Care Expansion

As the health care industry rapidly evolves, the demand for highly skilled professionals is also increasing by as much as 28% in some professions. Higher education institutions must adapt their graduate programs to attract prospective students with flexible, practical and innovative learning opportunities to meet this demand. The environment offered by a well-thought-out hybrid, accelerated education model is precisely in tune with today's graduate student market requirements. Hybrid programs are significantly more accessible than traditional "brick-and-mortar" programs because they allow students to live anywhere in the country and commute to the campus as needed for immersive, hands-on lab instruction. Additionally, when hybrid programs are also accelerated, they empower students to complete their degrees in less time, saving tuition costs, reducing student debt, and allowing them to enter the workforce more quickly than the vast majority of their peers.

Even when institutions succeed with new programs, they find themselves limited to small cohort sizes.

Data suggests that strong demand for health care professionals will continue over at least the next 20 years, making expanding health care offerings or transforming existing ones a compelling opportunity for higher education institutions nationwide. As many institutions can surely attest, this is not an easy feat. The process is fraught with risks, including high capital requirements and extensive programmatic accreditation hurdles. Even when institutions succeed with new programs, they find themselves limited to small cohort sizes, often unable to hire sufficient faculty and secure adequate clinical placements to support larger cohorts.

One strategy to overcome these real barriers can be a partnership with an external organization that helps supplement the substantial resources needed to stand up successful graduate health care programs and offer consultative services for areas like faculty recruitment, clinical education placement, accreditation, curriculum, instructional design, student recruitment, admissions, and much more!. An organization experienced in these areas can help universities mitigate risk, develop programs quickly and nimbly, and connect eager students with careers in essential high-need health professions.

Evidence In Motion (EIM) has deep expertise in overcoming these frequently encountered challenges and a history of success powering graduate hybrid, accelerated programs in one vital area alone – health care. Unlike many traditional online program managers (OPMs), EIM operates as a health care learning solutions company assisting higher education institutions looking to innovate with navigating the complexities of accreditation, faculty and student recruitment, curriculum, and clinical site needs. In addition, EIM brings a unique approach to the education model with hybrid accelerated degrees built to exceed today's student expectations.

Accelerated programs empower students to complete their degrees in less time, saving tuition costs, reducing student debt, and allowing them to enter the workforce more quickly.

Universities and colleges choosing to work with an outside partner should be aware of the pros and cons of such relationships. Here are a few questions to ask of a potential partner for your health care program:

Does the company solely focus on health care?
EIM does.
Do they convert existing degree programs only?
EIM builds new programs, from the ground up, and can transform existing ones.
How does their educational model support long-term success?
EIM's hybrid accelerated programs are resilient and show superior post-graduation outcomes. EIM is also home to a post-professional education hub that offers residencies, certifications and courses for students to flourish in their careers.

In short, don't settle.

EIM's health care education solutions work seamlessly through the building, launching and growing of new hybrid degree programs, positioning higher education partners for long-term success. When you have a tried-and-true partner through the lifetime and evolution of the program, you can confidently rely on EIM’s full suite of solutions: accreditation and program management; clinical site procurement and placement; marketing and student recruitment; admissions and student engagement; and faculty recruitment and development. Plus, EIM understands the intricate relationships between each service area, accreditor timelines, and how to connect it all in a holistic model that works every time.

Hybrid accelerated degrees are built to exceed today's student expectations.

Here are five key points to consider:

1) Institutions can access EIM's extensive network of high-quality clinical sites.

Clinical education is one of the most significant barriers to entry when launching any health care degree program. Because of our deep roots and health care focus, our hybrid programs can tap into EIM's extensive national network to find clinics, hospitals, home health practices and other locations for student placement. To date, EIM's network has over 32,000 sites nationwide and continues to grow.

2) A partnership with EIM can help institutions recruit highly qualified faculty.

EIM's database includes hundreds of prospective faculty members who have expressed interest in teaching at a University Partner using our accelerated hybrid education model. This list includes experienced faculty members within traditional residential programs and specialty-credentialed clinicians seeking to transition into a hybrid education model. Additionally, EIM maintains a growing list of hundreds of active adjunct faculty members supporting our University Partner programs and another 500 prospective adjunct faculty seeking these part-time teaching opportunities. Despite reported shortages in qualified health care faculty, our university partner programs report ~15 applications for every open position and no faculty vacancies across these programs. These faculty positions are highly sought after due to the innovative model and the flexibility it affords faculty members. Plus, EIM offers training and development for hybrid learning and ongoing support during their tenure within our partnerships.

3) Decrease the risks of launching highly regulated programs.

Our qualified accreditation and program management experts offer extensive support and guidance to program leadership to support institutional and programmatic accreditation activities. We handle the administrative burden of accreditation to free up program faculty to focus on other important work. We deeply understand the evaluative criteria specific to distance education and hybrid learning and have assisted every developing program we've worked with to achieve candidacy for accreditation.

4) Build large and diverse cohorts.

EIM's student engagement team offers the service of marketing and admissions professionals that live deeply entrenched with the university's unique brand, goals, and strategic approach to student recruitment. Our approach includes digital marketing solutions for attracting, engaging, and enrolling diverse and inclusive cohorts drawn from a national applicant pool.

5) Institutions can realize better returns with a partner like EIM by their side.

Non-partnership graduate health care programs invariably encounter difficulties hiring enough high-quality faculty and securing adequate quality clinical sites to support enrollments of more than 40-45 students. In fact, most new programs launching in today's environment are enrolling closer to 35-40 students because of these challenges. By partnering with EIM, institutions can enroll close to 100 students per cohort. These types of outcomes in the partnership will exceed what can be realized without a partner, not accounting for the significantly lower risk of working with an entity that has deep experience in developing and operating hybrid, accelerated graduate health care programs.

To learn more about how your institution can expand your graduate health care offerings through a partnership with EIM, visit eimpartnerships.com.

This content is sponsored by Evidence In Motion and developed by Inside Higher Ed's sponsored content team. The editorial staff of Inside Higher Ed had no role in its creation.

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