For Immediate Release—November 6, 2017
New Jersey and Credential Engine Partnering to Bring Comparable Credential Data to the Garden State
Washington D.C.—Credential Engine and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development are proud to announce a new partnership to bring credential clarity and transparency to the people of New Jersey as part of the state’s effort to ensure that at least 65 percent of its workforce has at least one post-secondary credential by 2025.
“With new credentials being developed almost daily, our state needed a way to better track and compare credentials,” said Dr. Aaron Fichtner, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Labor. “Credential Engine provides the data we need to further refine our list of industry-valued credentials and to better align the state’s education and training programs with the needs of our key industries.”
Launched in 2016, Credential Engine is a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that is using the power of technology to collect and connect credentialing data—such as competencies, quality assurance measures, and labor market information—in a Web-based Registry that uses a common language to allow for credential comparability.
Credential Engine Board chair, Eleni Papadakis, announced her excitement that New Jersey will also serve as a learning laboratory for the organization. “New Jersey will be a terrific new partner for us—we can learn a great deal from them,” says Papadakis. “They have made tremendous headway in recent years to better align educational resources with career opportunities in their critical industries, for the benefit of both employers and jobseekers or students. Making credentials more transparent will take New Jersey’s success to a new level. When everyone has reliable data, better decisions can be made by states, by training providers looking to improve or add programs, employers looking for qualified hires, and by students and workers looking to prepare for the future.”
Through this partnership, New Jersey will focus on credentials aligned with the state’s Talent Development Centers in five industries: advanced manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and distribution, healthcare, construction and utilities, and retail, hospitality, and tourism. Beginning with ten credentials in the advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation, logistics, and distribution industries, the Department hopes to eventually input information for over a hundred credentials across the state in order to provide citizens with the information they need to make education and career decisions that can help grow the middle class and drive the state’s economy forward.
“Thanks to the help of Credential Engine, we are confident that New Jersey’s colleges and universities will expand programs that lead to an industry-valued credential and that create pathways to economic opportunity,” said Commissioner Fichtner.
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Credential Engine Press Contact: Carrie Samson csamson@credentialengine.org
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Credential Engine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of promoting transparency and credential literacy in the marketplace to reveal the world of credentials and inform the public.