Case Study: How Industry and Education Can Establish a New Pathway to Learning
Credit: Provided by Naassom Azevedo on Unsplash
Introduction: The Readiness Gap
When I served as General Manager of the Education Division at Intel, I faced a challenge many companies are wrestling with today: the gap between academic achievement and workforce readiness. Degrees alone were no longer a guarantee of employability. What mattered was context, experience, and skills that translated directly into the workplace.
But access to those kinds of experiences was uneven. Only four in ten college students graduated with an internship, and that number was even lower for first-generation students. Closing that gap wasn’t just a social issue; it was a business imperative.
The Challenge: Students Were Not Choosing Us
One of the toughest realities I had to address was the company’s brand relevance with college students. At the time, many students were choosing devices that did not have Intel Inside especially after finishing high school. If that trend continued, we risked losing an entire generation of technology users and future talent.
At the same time, the company needed to diversify and expand its early-career pipeline. Traditional internships weren’t scalable. A new model was needed to reach thousands of students at once, in a way that created both business value and real-world student outcomes.
The Solution: Embedding Real-World Learning in Higher Ed
I led a collaboration with Podium Education to embed for-credit, experiential learning programs directly into the undergraduate curriculum. Students engaged with real projects from our Sustainability team, using live data to tackle real business challenges.
The program moved beyond theory. Students produced tangible work, earned a joint digital credential, and graduated with verifiable proof of employability that carried weight with future employers.
This wasn’t philanthropy. It was a strategic investment in brand relevance and talent pipelines.
The Results: Scalable, Authentic Impact
The collaboration created a repeatable framework for engaging thousands of students at scale. The outcomes included:
Strengthened brand relevance with students who previously preferred competing devices.
Early access to diverse talent pools that had been overlooked.
Measurable impact on student readiness through industry-recognized credentials.
As Chris Parrish, Co-Founder of Podium Education, put it:
“This work shows what’s possible when industry leaders commit to shaping education. Together, we created opportunities for thousands of students to work on projects they otherwise never would have accessed.”
What It Means for Work Ready Partners
That experience became a blueprint for the work I do today through Work Ready Partners. The same principles, project-based experiences, verifiable credentials, and authentic partnerships between industry and education can help any organization:
Democratize access to career-building experiences.
Diversify talent pipelines with measurable outcomes.
Reinforce brand relevance with the next generation of learners and employees.
At Work Ready Partners, we take proven strategies from my time leading at the intersection of education and technology and adapt them to your business — so you can turn ambition into measurable impact.
Conclusion
What I learned through this experience is that solving challenging business problems often requires a non-traditional approach. The traditional internship model wasn’t enough, and neither were conventional marketing campaigns. The breakthrough came when we aligned the needs of students, universities, and the business into one scalable solution.
The lesson is simple: when companies and educators collaborate strategically, everyone wins. Students gain the kind of experience that accelerates careers. Institutions gain relevance by connecting curriculum to the real world. And businesses secure the talent pipelines and brand strength they need to thrive in a competitive market.
At Work Ready Partners, this is the philosophy we bring to every engagement: tackling tough challenges with fresh thinking, forging strategic partnerships, and turning ambition into measurable outcomes.
Disclaimer
This article reflects my personal professional experience while serving as General Manager of the Education Division at Intel. It is shared for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an official statement or endorsement by Intel.
