(Photo courtesy of Watson Institute)
After pioneering the first personal computer in 1981—a clunky machine by today’s standards, but a quantum leap forward for computing—IBM realized that designing and building the entire computer themselves would quickly become too expensive. When specialists like Intel arose to build the microprocessors (and other elements of the computer) that delivered higher performance at a lower price, computers took quantum leaps forward in speed, efficiency, and adoption.
What if higher education, as we know it today, were at the same stage of development as IBM’s first PC? What would it take to go from the first personal computer to the advanced machines we use today? As we ask ourselves at Watson Institute: what would it take to become the “Intel Inside” of a university?
The Program
Founded in 2013, the Watson Institute program was first developed and refined at our campus in Boulder, Colorado. We started with a vision to become a stand-alone institution that could accelerate the careers of next-generation entrepreneurial leaders, but to manage the challenges of the accreditation process—and the limitations of scaling a stand-alone institution—Watson Institute developed an innovative partnership model (described in more detail below) and designed a strategy to become the “Intel Inside” of higher education institutions. Watson’s first institutional partnership launched in 2018 with Lynn University.
The core Watson Institute program is designed to accelerate the careers of undergraduate-aged entrepreneurial leaders and includes the following innovative elements:
1. Curriculum: Students receive intensive training in the entrepreneurial skills required for success: resilience, grit, transformative communication, teamwork, creativity, and leadership. 94% of Watson Institute alumni report that they still use a skill they learned four years after graduation.
2. Mentorship: Each student is paired with mentors who meet with the student on a regular basis to work through the challenges they are facing and expand their network and career opportunities. 67% of mentors and students stay in touch 4 years after graduation (and mentors oftentimes hire the students or join their advisory boards).
3. Master Courses: Short-term entrepreneurs in residence from Watson Institute’s global network of pre-eminent entrepreneurs and community leaders, are flown to campus to lead highly interactive workshops and one-on-one mentorship sessions with the students.
4. Work Experience: Placements and internships within leading organizations and companies allow students to map out the fields in which they wish to work, build meaningful connections with leading organizations, and develop a portfolio of professional experience before graduation.
5. Employment Outcomes: Designed into the curriculum itself from beginning to end (and complementary to stand-alone career centers), Watson Institute’s Talent Development Program includes scaling companies such as Techstars and Ashoka and ensures that alumni have a smooth transition into successful careers and lives of meaning and impact upon graduation.
The results are compelling: Ninety-three percent of alumni are employed, continuing their education, or working on a venture. Watson Institute’s 200 students and alumni hail from 52 countries, have raised over $77.2 million in capital, created more than 500 part- and full-time jobs, and impacted 150,000 people around the world through startup initiatives. Alumni have been selected to the Echoing Green Fellowship and Y-Combinator, have been featured in The New York Times and Forbes, continued their education at Harvard University, New York University, and Princeton University (among others), and five were named to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists.
Nzambi Matee, Watson Institute Alumna and founder of Gjenge Makers. (Photo courtesy of Watson Institute)
The Alumni
One such alumnus is Theresa Giglio: at Watson Institute at Lynn University, Theresa’s mission was to support youth suffering from addiction-related issues, as she herself had. Through the power of Watson Institute’s small cohort community, intensive training, mentorship, and culture of wellness, Theresa developed a set of skills and experiences throughout her degree at Watson Institute that laid the foundation for her to be hired by a leading organization supporting youth mental wellness immediately upon graduation. Within twelve months she was offered a job as the Program Coordinator of the University of Colorado’s Collegiate Recovery Center. Today she has raised investment to create a tech-enabled solution to mental health on college campuses. Through Watson Institute, Theresa built an entrepreneurial career in her field, developed a strong national network, and was offered an impactful job upon graduation with leading organizations providing support for addiction issues. Theresa now serves as a Watson Institute mentor for current students interested in addressing mental health concerns.
Nzambi Matee is an alumna who joined Watson Institute’s Semester Accelerator in Boulder from her hometown in Nairobi, Kenya with a vision to convert plastic bottles into bricks. In her time with us, Nzambi gained instrumental entrepreneurial and business training. Within months, alongside her two mentors, Nzambi raised $100K+ in seed funding to purchase the machinery, build her team, and officially launch Gjenge Makers Ltd. The venture is now registered to operate in 12 African countries, saves roughly 1 ton of plastic waste per month, and serves clients as small as local churches and as large as the Government of Kenya.
Scaling the Model
To scale its impact on the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders, Watson Institute has learned from organizations in higher education who have effectively scaled, including Shorelight, Trilogy, and 2U. Each of these organizations serves as a “specialist” partner responsible for design, implementation, and marketing of a program and builds revenue-generating partnerships with institutions of higher education who host the program on their campus. Rather than taking on the risk of creating a program themselves, the institution relies on the partner to make the upfront investment to design, market, and deliver the program. In the partnership model common to these case studies, a fee structure or revenue-sharing agreement ensures that the program not only creates a revenue stream for the institution but is sustainable for both parties in the long run.
To be the “Intel inside” of higher education, Watson Institute partners with academic institutions to deliver the Watson Institute program on their campus as part of a pathway to an accredited certificate, minor, or major. Watson Institute is responsible for the marketing of the program to prospective students internationally and creates a new revenue stream for the university partner. The Watson Institute program differentiates the university partner to prospective students eager to find a pathway through higher education to a meaningful, impactful, and successful career afterward.
In each partnership, Watson Institute makes the upfront investment for:
1. Program Design: The design of a customized curriculum and program tailored to existing offerings while taking full advantage of Watson Institute’s programmatic expertise.
2. Program Delivery: The delivery of a collaborative program that includes identification of faculty and facilitation of extra-curricular support such as Watson Institute’s global network of mentors, Master Course Teachers, and connections to leading employers.
3. Innovative Financial Aid Offerings: Programs can be made accessible to students while avoiding the pernicious trap of student debt through a novel form of financing higher education: income share agreements (ISA’s). Pioneered by coding boot camps such as Holberton School and traditional institutions of higher education like Purdue University, ISA’s enable students to share a percentage of future income for a set number of years instead of paying tuition upfront or incurring student debt. Watson Institute incorporates ISA’s to increase accessibility and ensure alumni have the financial security of knowing their investment in their education will pay off.
3. Marketing and Recruitment: Marketing the program and recruiting diverse students internationally from Watson Institute’s global network of 300+ nominators and proven marketing channels.
4. Employment Outcomes: Built into the curriculum itself are opportunities for students to connect with Watson Institute’s global employer network, develop in-demand skills, and facilitate a smooth transition to impactful and successful careers upon graduation.
Examples of Institutional Partnerships
In 2018, Watson Institute’s partnership with Lynn University was our first test-case of such a partnership model and has proven to be beneficial both to the students and to Lynn University. Lynn University collaborated with Watson Institute to offer a Bachelor of Science in Social Entrepreneurship for highly promising, diverse next-generation entrepreneurs and leaders from across the globe who are “majoring in their mission.” The students are some of the most engaged on campus, having become student body president and leading student organizations.
Watson is presently partnering with Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) in Guatemala—one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial universities in Central America—which is set to launch a Minor in Impact Entrepreneurship in Summer 2020. Building upon the success of the existing partnerships, Watson Institute is developing partnerships to power minors and certificates with innovative universities in the US, Latin America, and China.
Lessons Learned
For Innovators: We see many higher education innovators working outside of the walls of existing institutions, rather than working to build creative partnerships that can leverage the strengths of the institutions themselves. However, higher education is a uniquely challenging industry to disrupt from the outside, due to the long-standing nature of institutions, how deeply embedded they are in our culture and society, and the role of governmental regulation and accreditors. If innovators can find creative and sustainable partnership models with existing institutions, it will accelerate the adoption and increase the scope of innovation in higher education.
For Institutions: Institutions who recognize the power of partnering with external specialists can create a win-win for all involved: students, society, and the institution itself. Such partnerships enable institutions to avoid making the investment and taking the risk to build new programs by instead relying on collaborations with external specialists to create sustainable programs. In building upon the existing partnership models, higher education institutions can effectively maneuver through bureaucratic structures and accelerate the partnership and innovation process.
Conclusion
When IBM pioneered the personal computer, the entire machine was built by one company. Now, the days when computers were a vertically integrated industry are long gone.
If we do not find a way to similarly unbundle our higher education system to develop a generation of changemakers, problem solvers, and entrepreneurial leaders with the skills, experience, and courage to solve the toughest challenges of our time, then we will miss a crucial inflection point with damaging consequences for society, our young generation and the potential they hold. However, when higher education institutions and specialized innovators work in partnership to develop interdisciplinary programs embedded on university campuses, the result is systemic change that prepares the next generation to lead successful careers, impactful lives and solve the challenges of our time.
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Read more stories by Eric Glustrom & Brin Enterkin.