Short-term credentials are driving much of higher education’s undergraduate enrollment growth as more learners consider faster opportunities to engage in and enter the workforce.

At Texas A&M University–Kingsville, students in the surrounding area now have greater access to workforce development credentials through the Javelina Skilled Trades Academy, which opened this fall.

The academy is tuition-free, with a focus on upskilling the local labor market and driving economic growth in the region. 

What’s the need: TAMUK’s president, Robert H. Vela, has established an institutional priority to serve the local community, or, as he likes to call it, the “backyard,” as he told Inside Higher Ed in a 2024 interview.

As such, TAMUK established the Workforce Development Department, focused on serving students who are interested in postsecondary education but not the traditional four-year pathway, said Jeff West, the inaugural chief workforce development officer.

The Javelina Skilled Trades Academy is focused on students entering the construction, skilled trades and renewable energy industries, making it directly aligned with in-demand jobs, West said. Kingsville and Kleberg County are expecting work to begin soon on two industrial projects, a manufacturing hub and a carbon-capture plant, which will require as many as 7,000 skilled tradespersons to execute. Offering these programs provides direct connection to local jobs, West said.

Earning credit: The academy’s curriculum is centered on the National Center for Construction Education and Research certification, which offers nationally recognized certificates. While the goal of the program is to keep graduates in the region, it’s important to the university to enable them to take their credential anywhere, West said. Students at the high school level participating in career and technical education can earn NCCER credentials, creating a pipeline of students to TAMUK as well.

Each credential takes around 12 to 15 weeks to complete, or between 160 and 180 hours in the classroom. Credentials are stackable, and after a certain level students move onto an apprenticeship, gaining hands-on experience with a local employer.

If they choose, students can apply credits to a bachelor’s degree in applied science at TAMUK; the university is also considering creating a pathway for credits to work toward an engineering or construction management degree in the future.

Course instructors are all certified laborers with at least seven years of industry experience, and classes take place at the Kleberg County Economic Development and Training Center, about five minutes from campus.

On the ground: The academy has 21 students enrolled in the first cohort completing the Electrical 1 credential, which kicked off on Aug. 14. Students are paying no tuition, thanks to a variety of funding sources, West said. Learners did pay a several-hundred-dollar registration fee, in part to “put some skin in the game and contribute a little bit,” West said, but not to make cost a prohibitive factor.

Texas A&M University–Kingsville

The goal is to enroll additional cohorts of 20 or so students every few months, running simultaneously through the various credential offerings. But the university is adding students slowly to the program at first with a focus on effective training and job placement.

“We don’t want to scale up without understanding lessons learned and making sure that graduates are well trained and that they’re getting good-paying jobs,” West said. “That’s important to us—employment outcomes are important for the Skilled Trades Academy and for everything we’re doing in the Workforce Development Department.”

Most students are from Kingsville and Kleberg County and neighboring Jim Wells County, but some are trickling in from other parts of the state, in part to establish roots in the region, West said.

“Most of them are working professionals who are looking to get a better-paying job, looking for an opportunity to get a shot at working at the [carbon-collection] plant when they start building it next year, or the manufacturing hub,” West said.

TAMUK is additionally working to establish registered apprenticeships with the U.S. Department of Labor, allowing the institution to place students in roles with large contractors in the area and unlock state funding from the Texas Workforce Commission, West said.