People are constantly looking at gaining new skills to make themselves more valuable to employers and especially nowadays, the faster, the better.
That's one reason why CSULB devotes one of its eight colleges-University College and Extension Services (UCES)-to providing courses that can quickly adjust to a changing marketplace as well as meet other educational needs beyond the university's regular programs.
"UCES is the community outreach arm of this university," that offers more than 550 classes for university credit and degrees, non-credit certificates and professional development, said UCES Dean Jeet Joshee. "We offer programs on campus, off campus and online. In a nutshell, we provide access to the strong academic programs of this university and collaborate with the various departments to deliver innovative programs to meet the needs of the community.
"As many of our educational programs are geared toward workforce development, we have to be responsive to market demand," Joshee noted. "If you are not quick to respond, someone else is going to fill in the education gap." UCES staff continuously monitor trends and, "Even if someone doesn't approach us, if we see a trend, we immediately respond to that and initiate the discussion."
For example, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have major impacts on the economy and the goods movement industry. UCES' Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) provides valuable information through its research, educational programs and outreach efforts to both ports and affiliated industry sectors. For the past 10 years, the center's Annual Town Hall Meeting has provided an important neutral forum to discuss issues facing the goods movement industry.
"CITT partners with the University of Southern California in the METRANS Transportation Center, a national University Transportation Center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Caltrans," Joshee explained.
CITT offers the Global Logistics Specialist program "which has really become an industry recognized designation for trade and transportation professionals." CITT also partners with CSULB's Department of Economics to deliver the Master of Arts in Global Logistics program.
A host of area firms and public agencies also contract with UCES to offer employees custom-designed training. Many degrees and certificate programs such as the Fully Employed MBA and Accelerated Executive MBA are conducted evenings and weekends for working professionals.
"After working in the medical field for over 10 years, I always knew that I wanted to return to school someday to obtain my master's degree," said Matthew J. Graeser, an administrator at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. "I found it difficult to find a program that could accommodate my work schedule until I discovered the accelerated M.S. in Health Care Administration program through CSULB. The program was incredibly flexible as it offered classes on Saturdays and on-line classes that I could arrange around my work schedule. In addition, the instructors were incredibly knowledgeable and were familiar with the most common issues and concerns facing our health care industry today."
For current CSULB students, UCES manages the Winter Session and a new three-week May Intersession, and also runs the Open University program that allows access to hundreds of credit courses to people not regularly enrolled at the university. And, a planned new B.A. in Liberal Arts degree completion program will enable people who have earned some college credits to complete their degree at CSULB.
UCES' international programs help foreign students learn English through the American Language Institute. In partnership with the Center for International Education, UCES also coordinates short-term study abroad programs during winter break and summer. Joshee, originally from Nepal, is encouraging and initiating new UCES international collaborations.
To learn more about University College and Extension Services, visit www.uces.csulb.edu.
