For the second year in a row, one of SUNY Empire State College’s innovative online learning opportunities has been selected for the shortlist in Reimagine Education’s annual international award competition.

In 2014, QS Quacquarelli Symonds entered into a partnership with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to launch the first global competition designed to identify the most innovative, novel approaches to higher education.

The result of the partnership is the Reimagine Education Conference and associated annual global awards for innovative education pedagogies enhancing learning and employability.

The college’s “Career Brand Management for Everyone,” a specialization comprising three courses offered through Coursera, was among 140 entries – selected from a total of more than 500 from 50 different countries – to make the Reimagine Education 2016 shortlist.

“iMOOC102: Mastering American e-Learning,” was among those innovative learning projects chosen for Reimagine’s award shortlist in 2015.

“Being shortlisted two years in a row – with two different projects – is exceptional, particularly considering the strong level of competition,” said Valeri Chukhlomin, an associate professor of Business, Management and Economics, who led the development of the 2015 and 2016 entries. “Thanks to the support of SUNY Empire and Coursera, we were able to address increasingly important education and professional student needs and, as an important benefit, enjoy recognition for our successful efforts.”

In addition to public and private colleges and universities, the competition is open to for- and not-for-profit companies and organizations.

International competitors included the London School of Economics, Labster, a Denmark-based company, BYJU, India’s largest ed-tech company, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong S.A.R, China and many others.

National participants and competitors included Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Duke universities, MIT, the universities of California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and many other leading public and private institutions of higher education.

In addition to Chukhlomin, career brand management was developed, supported and taught by assistant professors John M. Beckem II, Michele Forte and Kymn Rutigliano. The course development team also included Tonka Jokelova, coordinator of curriculum and instructional design, Associate Professor Dana Gliserman-Kopans, John Hughes, director of media production, and Amy Giaculli, coordinator of student services.

Career brand management teaches students how to use proven brand management methods and tools for individual career development in competitive job environments. Students gain knowledge and analytical skills for career self-management and learn techniques for career brand building. Students also create a robust self-management information system that will help them “self-organize” and increase their human capital by building high-demand employability skills.

Within six months after its launch in 2016, more than 40,000 students from around the globe have enrolled in the specialization. According to Coursera analytics, 35 percent of participants have a bachelor's degree and 37 percent hold a master's.