“Ultimately to solve the long-term needs of society around skills and jobs and making sure we’re at full employment, we think that there needs to be a more ecosystem approach,” explains Todd Zipper, president of Wiley Education Services.

In order to have a robust ecosystem, it requires a variety of stakeholders, according to Zipper. Universities and education providers, employers, governments associations, and learners. “What we continue to keep finding is that the skills that are relevant today are not necessarily relevant tomorrow. Universities can’t just be stuck in a model of 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. They need to keep adapting their models quickly to meet the needs of society and the market,” says Zipper.

Zipper says that Wiley represents approximately 70 universities across the world with about 800 different online programs. “We partner with universities to help them build and grow online degrees mostly, from teaching and nursing to business and technology, social work to help people get graduate degrees, undergraduate degrees, and advance their careers to what we call career-connected education.”

Additionally, the organization’s mthree initiative works with companies to determine the skills employees need, then collaborates with universities to ensure students learn those skills. “We run a business that helps recruit, train, and deploy emerging tech talent into blue chip companies like Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan as a new type of educational model that doesn’t just train, but also gets people a job at the end of their training.”

Click here to learn more about Wiley Education Services.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Zipper in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard