To build career skills, professors at Castleton University teach hospitality at a ski resort. Another university teaches fermentation at a brewery. Yet another runs classes for its students at Google, where they simultaneously work. Two teach aviation-related subjects at an airport.

These aren’t internships, apprenticeships, or co-op programs that require students to take jobs on the way to their degrees. That’s because academic faculty accompany the students to the job site. At a time when American employers—and Americans in general—think colleges and universities aren’t bringing workplace skills to the classroom, some colleges and universities are bringing the classroom to the workplace. 

Northeast Texas Community College started Work4College (W4C) in 2014 as a way to give students an opportunity to stay on campus in the summer and work in jobs that pay more than those in the community.

Some of the W4C students work on the college’s 275-acre sustainable farm, while others build greenhouses, weed flower beds, take inventory at the college bookstore, or work in the student service office as peer tutors. More than physical work, participating students must take a summer course covering financial planning, soft skills, and college-success skills. The program also includes supervisors trained to serve as mentors.