UNE, Bangor Savings to launch online professional development program

Photo / Courtesy of University of New England Danielle Ripich, University of New England's president, says the goal of UNE's new online professional development program with Bangor Savings Bank is to combine education and business to benefit the community.

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By Lori Valigra

Bangor Savings Bank and the University of New England said Thursday that they will launch an online professional development program this fall whereby the bank’s employees can take online “competencies” through UNE to hone their skills.

“We are in a lifelong education society now,” Danielle Ripich, UNE’s president, told Mainebiz. The program’s goal is to combine education and business to benefit the community.

“This is the future for education,” she said of online learning courses, where both adults and students can learn at their own pace at any location. She added that UNE will continue to increase its online courses and apply them to different fields for people who want “convenience education.”

The program, called the “Essential Workplace Competencies Development Program,” was sparked when UNE won a Gates Foundation Breakthrough Models Incubator grant in March 2014 to develop competency-based online education tools to get people into the workforce and/or enhance their skills. UNE also has a second Gates Foundation grant. The grants, topping $100,000, are part of the foundation’s Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative, which offers workshops and national access to training experts.

Educated workforce good for business

The collaboration with Bangor Savings began six months ago. Ripich said Bangor Savings wanted to supplement the skills of its workers. UNE developed the modules. The intellectual property for the new program is jointly owned.

“UNE’s progressive leadership has helped bring this concept to life,” Robert Montgomery-Rice, president and CEO of Bangor Savings, said in a prepared statement. “[It] will serve as a model that will serve both our organizations and the state of Maine for many years to come.”

The program will launch in the fall and be reassessed after one year, Ripich said, adding that if it is successful, she hopes to expand that type of learning to UNE students in healthcare and other areas.

The pilot project does not involve any exchange of funds. Bangor Savings employees will be able to take the competency modules for free, and complete them at their own pace.

Ripich said the modules are not courses, but aim to enhance worker competency. They will be run through the UNE College of Graduate and Professional Studies.

They aim to improve leadership and business communication skills. For example, they contain scenarios for dealing with customer issues, managing complaints better, conflict resolution and interactive role-playing. The skills cut across job descriptions, she noted.

Young professionals in the program also will be able to rotate through various banking departments and shadow other employees to learn the processes of each department.

“Bangor Savings is so forward-thinking and creative. They wanted to offer competencies for workers to be effective and have the skills to be successful,” Ripich said.

Future of education is online

UNE has instructional designers in place as it already has a different online program that drew in 5,361 students last year with a 94% to 97% completion rate. Most of those were adults adding to their skills or learning new ones.

The university also plans to offer a healthcare informatics undergraduate degree online starting in the fall with collaborators including InterMed, athenahealth, Eastern Maine Healthcare, Maine General Health, Wixnet and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

The pilot course this fall will include two to four people from each of those companies. Going forward, UNE plans to offer course pricing based on time, Ripich said. For example, students could pay for 12 weeks and finish as many modules as they can. The exact pricing will be available in the fall, but it will be affordable, she said.