VCCS Colleges
Text Only

Career Pathways

The VCCS is a leader in the development of career pathways in the commonwealth. As defined in the state’s first strategic plan for career pathways, Bridging Business and Education for the 21st Century Workforce, career pathways are connected education and training programs and support services that enable individuals to secure employment with a specific occupational sector and to advance over time to successively higher levels of education or employment in that sector.

Virginia’s Community College offer multiple career pathway programs and services including:

Population Served

Career pathways are targeted to the emerging, unemployed and underemployed, and incumbent workforces.  VCCS career pathway programs and services target populations ranging from public school students to incumbent or displaced workers.  

Program Features

Career Pathways deliver success by:

  • Providing employers with a connection to a skilled workforce
  • Providing Virginia residents with education and training to develop and adapt their skills to a changing economy

Career Pathways include the following elements:

  • Connections to employers
  • Articulation to higher levels of education and training
  • Career planning services and educational advising
  • Credentials that count in the workplace such as certifications, licensures, degrees, and certificates
  • Experience-based learning including cooperative education, internships, service learning, and business-based projects

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Creamer, Director Career Pathways or Gloria Westerman, Director Career Educational Transition Programs. 

Program Resources

Cover of Building Business and Education for the 21st Century Workforce

Virginia has released its first Statewide Career Pathways plan that involves a Governor led, multi-agency approach to improving workforce development, economic development, and education in Virginia.  The plan serves as a model for the nation and calls for improved coordination of labor market data, transitions for students at all levels of education, and increasing completion rates.  To learn more, read the complete report, Bridging Business and Education for the 21st Century Workforce. 

Listen to Wendy Kang, Director of Research for the VCCS, discuss the Career Pathways plan with Anne Marie Morgan of WVTF Public Radio.
Clip #1
Clip #2

Workforce Strategy Center

National Career Pathways Network


The careers profiled in this presentation are just 10 “career pathways” students can pursue with the help of Virginia’s Community Colleges. We hope you enjoy reading about the success of our students in several career fields.

 

Where Career Opportunity Begins


Greg Troyer explores a career in engineering through a partnership with Central Virginia Community College, UVA and AREVA.

ARRA1.jpg

                    Quick Links

           Workforce
           vaworkforcebutton1.gif
           Career
           Noncredit

Contact Us |   Help   | Sitemap | Privacy/FOIA | Ethics Agreement | Staff Directory | Saturday, November 21, 2009
myfuture.vccs.edu    101 N. 14th Street, 15th Floor    Richmond, VA 23219    t. 804-819-4901    f. 804-819-4760