Great public research institutions like UC San Diego are the foundation for the breakthroughs and insight that fuel economic growth and community well-being. We respect our research heritage and aim to be a platform for change so that we can continue to evolve. We invite feedback and constructive criticism from our students, and are constantly updating our coursework based on our own and others’ research on market needs and emerging careers. We conduct market research on each of our own program offerings and our overall organizational effectiveness; we look at regional and national job posting data, sought-after skill sets, employment projections, and average salaries to create in-house insight reports.
Neither companies nor individuals can afford to invest time and resources in programs that don’t provide the necessary tools for success. We have a deep obligation to our community and partners to develop innovative programs and track their outcomes, and in that vein we’ve identified four high-demand programs—front-end development, java programming, digital marketing, and business intelligence analysis—for initial eligibility in our income-share agreement initiative, which we developed in collaboration with the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Income- share agreements allow students to pay a small portion of their income earned through future employment back to the school instead of taking out a loan. By making education more accessible and less cost-prohibitive, we are reiterating our commitment to fostering skill development, particularly to those in underserved communities. We will monitor the program’s interest and success rates, then evaluate whether to expand.