UCLA Extension to offer online courses aimed at boomers
Among the biggest challenges older workers face is learning new skills and transitioning to second careers.
UCLA Extension, the university’s division for continuing and professional education, is betting there’s money to be made helping them do that.
The school is teaming with Encore Career Institute Inc. in Los Gatos, Calif., to teach baby boomers how to reinvent themselves in today’s rapidly evolving job market.
The Silicon Valley start-up will offer online coursework based on UCLA Extension classes. It will also give career assessment and job-placement assistance designed for baby boomers, who range in age from 47 to 65.
“We want to help people take advantage of where they are in life,” said the company’s chief executive, Steve Poizner, a technology entrepreneur and former California insurance commissioner.
The company will offer certificate programs in expanding areas that provide the likeliest opportunities for boomers to get jobs, such as healthcare and green technology, Poizner said. Classes will begin in September 2012.
The programs, which will average about a year, will cost between $5,000 to $10,000.
For UCLA Extension, the new undertaking will provide a way to offer classes nationwide.
“The advantage of this venture is for us to really extend our reach,” said Cathy Sandeen, dean of UCLA Extension.
Encore Career Institute has raised $15 million in financing from two venture-capital firms.
