LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An innovative professional college, Fremont College (www.fremont.edu), is proposing a new solution for its graduates to enter the 21st-century workforce: pre-negotiate with potential employers to hire the graduates and customize the college curriculum specific to the employers’ needs. “It is such a simple idea,” explains Dr. Sabrina Kay, Chancellor of Fremont College. “If our students are trained, experienced and proven to be valuable to a particular employer while attending Fremont College, why wouldn’t they be hired when they graduate?” Dr. Kay, whose doctoral work was in work-based learning leadership at Wharton, is quite confident and she convinced the six CEOs of top e-tailers and brick-and-mortar businesses, with cumulative revenue of over $8 billion, to partner with Fremont College to prepare for their companies’ human capital and growth.
The project’s catchy name – the Tiger Program – came from a metaphor that mother tigers raise their cubs with vigorous training to survive the jungle in the future. “We’re still hiring!,” exclaims Andrew Cherng, founder and Chairman of the immensely successful Panda Restaurant Group, with 18,000 employees. “We are in full support of the Tiger Program and will take paid interns and hire graduates from the Program. Our Panda School of Learning team will be fully engaged with Fremont College students as their mentors and supporters while they attend Fremont College.”
Added Greg Longstreet, President and CEO of Farmer John Foods: “This partnership with Fremont College allows our company to proactively develop the curriculum to train our potential future employees. We are also willing to pay for interns, full time or part time, grooming them to be fully trained and immersed in Farmer John culture while they are in college.”
Mimi Song, founder and CEO of Superior Grocers, the largest Hispanic supermarket chain in Southern California, explains the value of the Program: “As a growing company, we will not be able to accomplish educational excellence unless we partner with Fremont College. I’m very excited that, in one to two years, we will be able to hire the Fremont College graduates who already know Superior’s culture because we will train them together with Fremont College.”
To launch the Program, Fremont College and its partners committed dollars to their vision and set aside up to $9,000 towards tuition costs for qualifying Fremont College students, along with a guaranteed paid internship and mentorship at a sponsor company and a guaranteed job interview upon graduation.
This pilot Program begins in January 2012 when Tiger Scholarship students enroll at Fremont College. The seven initial sponsor companies are ShoeDazzle.com, LegalZoom.com, 99¢ Only Stores, Panda Restaurant Group, Farmer John Foods, Superior Grocers, and Alliance College-Ready Public Schools.
Fremont College’s Chairman of the Board, Ambassador Frank Baxter, who passionately spent many years in American education reform, summed it up best: “The tremendous benefit of the Fremont College Tiger Program is the opportunity for our students and the companies to fully engage while students are still in the learning process. It provides the employers with the unique opportunity to make changes to their learning to suit the business and hiring needs, and this process, in turn, enables the students to pursue a more successful post-graduate career path. This is a model for how American business should and can intersect with the education sector to achieve better outcomes for all.”
For details of the Tiger Program and Tiger Scholarship qualification, please call 1-800-FREMONT (800-373-6668). Prospective students can apply at www.fremont.edu/scholarship.
About Fremont College
The mission of Fremont College is to close the gap between the traditional classroom and the 21st-century workplace. As an innovator in professional education, Fremont College offers an Ivy League-inspired educational system, Professional Action Learning®, which focuses student learning through teamwork, collaboration, and practical study while encouraging students to utilize their passion and talent and give back to the community. With campuses in Los Angeles and Cerritos and offering programs via online, on-campus, and blended learning, Fremont College offers bachelor and associate degrees in four distinct disciplines of study: design, business, legal studies, and sports therapy.
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