New Consortium to Help Colleges Integrate AI Skills into Curriculum

In an effort to address growing demand for artificial intelligence skills in the workforce, five public colleges and universities are working with the nonprofit Complete College America (CCA) and the work-based learning platform Riipen to add experiential learning with AI to their academic programs.

As described in a news release today, the CCA AI Readiness Consortium includes five institutions across five states — Atlanta Metropolitan State College, City Colleges of Chicago, City University of New York, Cuyahoga Community College and Pikes Peak State College — representing a mix of community colleges and four-year universities that have championed accessible education and workforce development. They will collaborate with one another through regular meetings and give faculty members and career services staff academic training on Riipen’s platform through a series of webinars. They will then have access to Riipen’s library of work-based learning resources, including templates and case studies.

These teams will design courses that integrate AI into project-based assignments involving industry partners, where students will gain practical skills aligned with the evolving demands of the workforce. The news release said part of the idea of this collaboration is to create a scalable model for how other institutions can incorporate AI competency into their programs.

A nationwide survey of 1,200 professionals in 2024 found that 83 percent thought students should be prepared to use AI when they enter the workforce, and that higher education should play a critical role in that preparation.

“This new consortium reflects our collective commitment to ensuring students graduate not just with a degree but with the skills and experiences they need to thrive in a workforce and in an economy that will be powerfully influenced by AI,” Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of Complete College America, said in a public statement. “This is about giving students — particularly those from historically excluded communities and institutions — the opportunity to learn, understand and put into practice the kind of AI skills that will be essential to long-term career success.”