Instructional Support Partnership Model
Definition:     Industry partner provides support/resources for instruction-related components of program.

Examples:    Guest lectures or demonstrations, classroom teaching, panelist/judges, conducting site tours.

Implementation Strategies
  • Be specific, detailed when making requests of industry
  • Facilitate connections between faculty and industry
  • Provide clear educational goals for student-industry interaction
  • Secure resources for building/sustaining instructional support from industry partners
  • Navigate institutional requirements for industry partners
  • Prepare industry members for teaching, student interaction

Reported Impacts
  • Deepened ties with industry
  • Experts expanded student awareness of industry trends, expectations
  • Provided students with current, industry-informed instruction
  • Increased student exposure to workplace settings
  • Created industry-informed educational materials
  • Provided feedback on student performance directly from industry 

Reported Challenges
  • Finding time, resources for coordinating logistics
  • Sustaining on-going opportunities for industry support
  • Finding, securing appropriate sites/partners
  • Navigating institutional requirements for licensing, liability insurance.
  • Budgeting for fees, stipends
  • Preparing industry members to effectively interact with students
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Instructional Support Case Study


​The Regional Center for Nuclear Education and Training (RCNET) ensures instructional quality and currency for their students – and skilled graduates for waiting jobs - by hosting an intensive meeting with industry partners prior to the launch of each year’s student cohort.  The group drills down into the curriculum, provides updating where technologies have shifted, and then fills instructional gaps with industry members who commit to serve as instructors, guest lecturers, or to help existing faculty get up to speed with rapidly shifting technologies.