How this community college is making an impact at home — and around the world
Hudson Valley Community College in New York is improving workforce training and talent pipelines at home by connecting to a global technical and vocational education network. It’s now the first U.S. community college in the United Nations’ UNEVOC Network.
Hudson Valley Community College is in the business of building talent pipelines at home and abroad.
The college, located in the heart of New York’s Capital Region, provides regional workforce training so residents can secure good jobs and regional employers can find the talent they need.
To improve these efforts at home, Hudson Valley has connected with numerous countries — to train teachers, to provide English instruction, to recruit students and to learn best practices. In June, the college became the first U.S. community college to join the UNEVOC Network, a United Nations project to develop and strengthen technical and vocational education and training around the world. Hudson Valley is now just one of two UNEVOC Centres in the U.S.
“Everything we do at Hudson Valley is done with a focus on the future, and we are living in a global society,” said Hudson Valley President Roger A. Ramsammy, Ph.D. “The world is changing rapidly, and today’s students must be prepared for tomorrow’s world of work. Hudson Valley must deliver what the future demands.”
Global footprint, global impact
Part of The State University of New York system, Hudson Valley offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs in health sciences, business, liberal arts and STEM fields. It serves nearly 20,000 students in credit and non-credit offerings.
But Hudson Valley’s president realized long ago that the future will play out on a global stage. Membership in the UNEVOC Network is the latest evolution of the college’s ongoing work with students and institutions around the world.
The UNEVOC Network is a project of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — is the U.N. agency that promotes global cooperation in education, sciences and the arts. UNEVOC is the U.N.-designated center for technical and vocational education and training.
The UNEVOC Network enables members to cooperate, exchange ideas, form cross-border partnerships and support one another to improve vocational education around the world. With 231 centers in 150 countries, network members are governments, education ministries, research institutions, and education and training providers. Hudson Valley was selected after a year-long application and review process and is the first community college to join the network.
“The UNEVOC Network will benefit our students greatly because it provides further opportunities for them to engage with the world and for our faculty and staff to bring global learning into the curriculum,” Ramsammy said. “Our graduates are going into a workforce that demands them to have a level of cultural sensitivity and that they understand the importance of being a global citizen. Global citizenship isn’t developed without engaging in global activities.”
Hudson Valley will take its network membership one step further and serve as a reference center, a new UNEVOC initiative. As a UNEVOC reference center, Hudson Valley will provide support and guidance to other network members in two areas where it excels: inclusive training in the skilled trades and English language instruction.
Preparing workers in the skilled trades has been part of Hudson Valley’s DNA since it was founded in 1953. But because of global shortages of skilled workers, Ramsammy said, there’s a worldwide push to develop human capital in a more inclusive way and ensure that women, persons from historically marginalized communities, and disabled persons have increased access to workforce training.
Because English is the global language of commerce, there’s tremendous demand for English instruction here and abroad. The college currently offers free English instruction to underserved communities in its region. It also developed a remote course for teachers in Costa Rica.
The college’s Office of Global Initiatives will coordinate this reference center, which will collect best practices, coordinate research opportunities and promote collaborative projects around skilled trades and English language instruction. The Hudson Valley reference center will host remote meetings quarterly and in-person gatherings every two years.
“Joining UNEVOC allows us to expand our initiatives to new audiences and engage with others that we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to engage with,” Ramsammy said. “At Hudson Valley, it’s important to us to not only have a global footprint but to have a global impact to make a difference.”
Outreach to the world
Hudson Valley’s membership in UNEVCO continues the college’s outreach to the world, which began in earnest when Ramsammy became president in 2018.
Upon arriving at Hudson Valley, Ramsammy reconnected with Costa Rican officials he had met at a previous stop. Their conversations led to the creation in 2020 of the Global Classroom High School Program to provide low-cost online classes to high school students in Costa Rica. The program has since expanded to more than 30 other countries. A year later, Hudson Valley partnered again with Costa Rica to train teachers to provide English language instruction.
Today, Hudson Valley is currently engaged in education and training initiatives or discussions in 15 countries. Since 2021, it has hosted international visitors and delegations from 50 nations. Ramsammy sits on the board of directors of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics, an international organization for technical colleges.
Hudson Valley’s global emphasis has borne fruit closer to home. When semiconductor company GlobalFoundries (GF) announced a decade ago that it would build a manufacturing plant north of Albany, college officials toured the company’s plant in Dresden, Germany. That visit informed the design and programming of a new college facility built next to the new GF plant in Malta, N.Y.
That relationship continues to pay dividends. The college broke ground in 2022 for a second building on its Malta campus to add more STEM, healthcare and skilled trades programs. GF and Hudson Valley are partners in the nation’s first registered apprenticeship program in the U.S. semiconductor industry.
In November, Hudson Valley announced a donation from GF of $1 million — the largest in college history — to support construction of a new Applied Technology Education Center that will train graduates for careers in semiconductor manufacturing, renewable energy, building systems and other in-demand sectors.
“We’re one of the best community colleges in the nation. We have the resources and expertise to work with our local community and share beyond our region,” Ramsammy said. “Our outreach on an international scale extends the work we’re doing here at home and allows more people to benefit. We should be thinking locally and globally.”
The inauguration: April 11-12
Hudson Valley will be formally inaugurated as a new UNEVOC Network member at a ceremony on its Troy, N.Y., campus on April 11-12. The college expects about 250 people to attend the in-person event and thousands more to join virtually.
The two-day hybrid event will feature sessions on three themes: electronic vehicle charging stations, virtual welding, and the Uniquely Abled Academy, which prepares persons with autism to work in industry. Friedrich Huebler, head of UNESCO-UNEVOC, is scheduled to deliver the first-day keynote address. Olivier Pieume, head of the UNEVOC Network, is expected to moderate a panel discussion.
Visit HVCC's Campus in Troy, New York, or attend virtually.
This content is sponsored and provided by Hudson Valley Community College 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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